By IANS,
Mumbai : Sixteen-year-old swimming sensation from Mumbai Aakanksha Mishra is planning a double whammy in August – swimming the English Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar back to back within a week.
While she will swim the English Channel one-way from Britain to France, she will attempt to cross the Strait of Gibraltar two-way, from Spain to Africa and back.
She leaves for Britain next fortnight for further training before making the attempt, it was announced here Monday. Mishra will attempt the feats Aug 8-15.
Last year in January, Aakanksha completed a “double”, swimming a 70-km stretch from Gateway of India, Mumbai, to Alibaug in Konkan and back, in 17 hours and 40 minutes. This included swimming throughout the night in the Arabian Sea.
As part of her training for the English Channel crossing, Mishra has to put on weight, since swimming in the channel results in weight loss and a right balance needs to be maintained.
Daughter of Air-India’s deputy chief engineer Rajesh Mishra, Aakanksha is currently being coached by Arti Pradhan, who had created a world record by becoming the youngest swimmer to cross the English Channel and the first woman to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar in 1987-88.