Swimming through rough tides

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOUR: Surajit Ghosh Swimmer

Surajit Ghosh. Picture  by Gopal Senapati
Surajit Ghosh. Picture by Gopal Senapati

For someone like Surajit Ghosh, who has won 12 gold medals in international swimming competitions, it is disheartening to lead a life without any recognition or acknowledgement. Ghosh had won the first gold medal for India in 1984 at the Asian Swimming Championships in Hong Kong. Since then, he was a winner for the next 10 years, in Asian and South East Asian Swimming Championships. Of the 19 medals that he has won, 12 have been gold medals and seven silver.

From 1985-89, Surajit was number one in South East Asia and number 2 in Asia. Apart from this feat, Surajit has over 100 medals that he has won at national swimming championships. He was champion for 10 consecutive years in the senior national championships for 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley. Despite his achievements and talent, Surajit laments that he has never been recognised by either the state or the central government. “My achievements have remained unrecognised. I have never received any kind of recognition from the state or central governments,” he said.

Surajit was a swimmer since childhood, when he started swimming in the neighbourhood pond. His elder brothers Abhijit and Biswajit were also swimmers. However, Surajit went a long way in this sport. His first guru was Jnanaranjan Das, who trained him and encouraged him to go to competitions. “My strength was 200m butterfly in which I had made a record time of 31 seconds in 1979, at my first junior national championship. Later, to perform better, I never stuck to one coach. I would go to other places around India, where I would practise with other good swimmers and practise under different coaches,” said Surajit.

A swimmer can only improve if he has a good competitor. “When I went to competitions, I would watch other swimmers and would contact them later so that I could go and practise with them to improve my speed. I have been to Madras, Kerala and other parts of India, with the aim of increasing speed,” said Surajit. Many swimmers in Bengal would want to practise with Surajit for the same reason.

“Bula Chowdhury has practised with me for a long time because she wanted to increase her speed,” said Surajit. He had also trained for many years under Australian coach, Eric Arnold, in Delhi. “I had stayed for a long time in Delhi, just to train under Arnold who was also training national champion Khajan Singh at that time,” said Surajit.

Although he has been a rank-holder in Asia and South East Asia, he regrets that he could never get a rank in world championship. “I had gone to the World Swimming Championship in 1990, but there I could not go beyond Rank 8. The competition was tougher because there were so many more swimmers from across the world who were better than me,” said Surajit.

Having a job with the Eastern Railway through the sports quota, Ghosh now coaches young swimmers in Bally and other swimming clubs. “I started Bally Swimming Centre but I also train students in other clubs in Hooghly and other places,” he said. He encourages young swimmers and is always on the lookout for new talent.

MORE ABOUT SURAJIT

DoB: January 15, 1968
Born in: Howrah
Education: HS
Family: Wife, two daughters
Loves: Long drives
Hates: Deceit

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Howrah> Story / Friday – April 03rd, 2015

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