Going against the tide

- In a sport dominated by male athletes, Vijayasri Gupta is the only female swimmer from the State to have participated in a slew of national and international events
- The 63-year-old had learnt swimming merely by observation
- Says many promising swimmers have been giving up due to lack of support and encouragement

In a sport which is generally considered to be a male bastion, one lady from the city has managed to buck the trend and assert her own identity. Sexagenarian Vijayasri Gupta is the only female swimmer from the State to have participated in a slew of national and international events with 50 gold medals to her credit. The 63-year old is also the only swimmer to have won three gold medals in the international swimming competition held at New Jersey, USA, in 2007. Speaking to The Hans India, Vijayasri says, “At a time when swimming was a taboo for women in those days, I found it difficult to find a coach.

I learnt the rudiments of swimming without a coach by merely observing people swim and managed to master the art.” She went on to become a specialist in back-free, butterfly and back-stroke styles. Remarkably, swimming still constitutes a part of her daily routine. “I practice swimming for one hour in a pool in the city every day,” she says while expressing her willingness to participate in State, national and international championships, whenever and wherever they are held.

Vijayasri has been a regular participant in the National Masters Aqua Championship. She had participated in the recent championship held at Hyderabad and had bagged three silvers. Earlier, she swam from Seethanagaram to Durga ghat on the River Krishna and it was a great achievement in the senior women wing. Vijayasri opined that although the infrastructure today was far better than it was in earlier times, many people do not take up swimming as an activity due to lack of support and encouragement.

She says her success story in swimming would not have been possible without the unstinting support of her husband Gupta. “I was 47 when I used to accompany my daughter to the swimming pool to watch her take coaching lessons. I was deeply inspired and wanted to swim as well. I started learning and within a year, participated in the State-level Master’s championship and National Swimming Championship,” she said.

Vijayasri suggests to her fellow women-swimmers that every one of them could scale heights in the field provided they practiced the art with dedication and devotion. “Swimming every day can also help people stay health”, she says and adds that women swimmers gradually increased in India due to health awareness. “Although the country has 12,000 women swimmers, only a few of them participate in tournaments,” she says ruefully and says that the government needs to decrease the fee at swimming pools for national and State medal winners.

“Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is collecting Rs 600 per month irrespective of medals won,” she says and adds that it is equally important for officials to maintain clean pools. “Those days, we had only one swimming pool in Vijayawada. Now the number of pools is gradually increasing, but the sad thing is the number of women coaches failing to keep pace with the rise in the number of women swimmers,” she concludes.

Dasari Srinivasa Rao