PANAJI: Member of the India Junior Swimming Team, Sanjana Prabhugaonkar bagged medals galore at the recent 48th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2022 in Bhubaneswar-Odisha. Given the impressive progress of the 15-year-old swimmer, all eyes will be on Sanjana when she takes to the pool at the National Games here in Goa in 2023. With Gujarat to host the Games this year, expectations will kick in from the state swimming fraternity about Sanjana’s potential to perform at the premier national championships.
Recently at Biju Patnaik Swimming Pool-Kalinga Stadium, Sanjana clinched four silver medals and a bronze in the 15-17 years age group. Her silver medals came from 200M Freestyle (2:09:69), 100M Backstroke (1:07:09), 50M Backstroke (30:83), 200M Backstroke (2:25:90); the lone bronze medal in 100M Freestyle with a timing of 1:00:62.
At the recent Khelo India Youth Games in Haryana, Sanjana finished fourth in the 100 metres backstroke event with timing of 1:08:17. She also exhibited her never-say-die attitude, in the face of illness when she refused the advice to withdraw and managed a 4th-place with a timing of 2:59:24 in 200M Backstroke.
Goa’s swimming coach Keshav Naik was then quoted as saying: “Stupendous performance/unparalleled passion for a fifteen-year-old at this level.”
Earlier this year, Sanjana was selected to represent India junior swimming squad at a high performance camp in South Africa. Swimming Federation of India in association with South Africa Swimming with the support from Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (Government of India), had initiated this training programme from 17th March to 17th April 2022 in Johannesburg.
Sanjana is currently undergoing full-time competitive high performance swimming training in Dubai under the guidance and mentorship of coach Pradeep Kumar, at the Aqua Nation Sports Academy – ANSA, UAE (Dubai).
