CITY’S atya patya player Shruti Kadav and international sea swimmer Jayant Jaiprakash Duble have been selected for the prestigious Maharashtra Government’s Shiv Chhatrapati Award for the year 2022-23. The 24-year-old Shruti was member of gold medal winning Indian team in the recently held South Asian Games in Bhutan. Coached by Dr Deepak Kavishwar and Amarkant Chakole, Shruti has also represented Maharashtra atya patya team in five State and four senior national competitions. “Finally, dreams have come true,” Shruti said about the award. She thanked her parents, coaches and Dr Babanrao Taywade for their support. Jayant, son of former Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Maharashtra Jaiprakash, has been promoting sea swimming and has created several records in the recent past. He will get the award in Adventure Sports category.

 

Last year, 23-year-old Jayant had created history after he swam three international-level channels within two months. In August 2023, he successfully swam 70-km from English Bay in England to France and back to England in record time (14 hours, 39 minutes). In September 2023, he completed another record by crossing the Catalina Channel in the United States of America (USA) as part of the Pacific Ocean. He completed it in 14 hours and 52 minutes. Jayant also completed the expedition between Northern Ireland to Scotland with relay team in 14 hours and 39 minutes. Jayant was delighted with the announcement and thanked the State government for recognising his efforts. “I am grateful to the government for taking note of my sea swimming achievments and announcing my name for the award. Adventure swimming is not as popular a sport as it should be but I am confident that my award will definitely inspire young adventure swimmers in the state. “Since sea swimming has been include in Beijing Olympics (2008), I will continue to try to participate in the Olympics in the coming years.”