Indian girl crosses English Channel

Sep 29, 2011 |

London

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Ramya Chinthapally

A teenage Indian girl crossed the English Channel on Thursday in a relay swim making her among the youngest to undertake the endeavour.

Ramya Chinthapally, daughter of Rajashekar, Minister, political, Press and Information at the Indian High Commission to the UK here, teamed up with five English swimmers.

They started off from Dover mid day on Wednesday and reached the French Coast just after one am on Thursday, the Channel Swim Association said. After the feat, Ramya, who celebrated her 18th birthday on 7th this month, said, "more than endurance, it was more a test of will power, swimming through jelly fish at night in cold waters".

She aspires to swim solo next time. Her coach and mentor, Fiona Southwell, who is also the Secretary of the Brighton Swim Club feels, "Ramya is so eager and such an extremely strong swimmer; it was also a rare thing that I did not need to correct her stroke; she was at ease in the sea."

They had ventured a week ago, but then the swim had to be aborted. The observer from the Channel Swim Association, accidentally fell down and he had to be evacuated for medical treatment.

Ramya, who is studying the final year A level in London is among the youngest Indian girls to be a channel swimmer.

English Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic.

It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest, to only 34 km in the Strait of Dover.

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