Mumbai: Three years of hard labour paid off for 16-year-old Gaurvi Singhvi, as she crossed the English Channel, which she claims a "dream come true moment" mission.
The 'Channel' is a water body that separates southern England from northern France and links southern part of North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.
Singhvi, who hails from Udaipur admitted that crossing the ditch of the English channel was the toughest challenge during her effort that took 13 hours and 26 minutes. She finally crossed the Channel on August 23.
"The ditch is a place where the tide current is the strongest and there usually people get struck and cannot move ahead. I was lucky to have crossed the ditch in sufficient time," she said.
Having participated in the pool events when she was younger, Singhvi started open water competitions after winning one in Udaipur.
"I started swimming since I was very young and I have represented Rajasthan in various state and national level tournaments. However, I started my journey of open water swimming by taking part in a 1 km event at Udaipur and won that," Singhvi, who became the youngest Indian this year to cross the English Channel, told reporters here.
She started her swimming to the English Channel, one of the oldest water bodies where such exercises are undertaken, from the Samphire Hoe beach in southeast England and finished at the Cap Gris Nez, located in northern France, covering a distance of around 40 kms.
