Water babies take on challenges

Eight year old Swapnali Yadav is elated. She successfully swam across the 35km stretch from Dharamtar Jetty in Raigad to Gateway of India today, a tedious challenge that took 10 hours and 10 minutes to complete.

Though the distance has been traversed by many youngsters earlier and in a lesser time span, the Satara-based girl is not disappointed. "It was my wish to swim across from Dharamtar to the Gateway and I know that the task would help me in future." Yadav is will cross the 23km Strait of Gibraltar in July next year.

Swapnali has been trained by Raju Palkar. But even in this attempt, Yadav had competition. Ten-year-old Vidula Lahoti, who also attempted the task, had finished swimming across the expanse in 9 hours 44 minutes. Lahoti said: "I am confident about swimming across larger distances now." The excitement of completing their arduous task made them forget the risks involved in it.