City’s head constable Tulasi Chaitanya is all set to swim the Palk Strait (from Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar to India’s Dhanushkodi), covering a distance of 32 kilometres on March 25. He is leaving for Rameswaram on March 17 to train for six days at Dhanushkodi under the watchful eyes of his coach Balaga Ganesh before taking the plunge. “My aim is to cover the distance in nine hours,” said Mr. Chaitanya.

The 30-year-old swimmer said the Palk Strait was at Triveni Sangam where both Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal entered the Indian Ocean. “The water will be volatile with strong undercurrents and high waves,” said the swimmer, who was groomed under the special attention of Rajiv Trivedi, a top police officer of Telangana cadre.

Mr. Chaitanya, who had already won 14 international medals, will be taking all precautions such as applying of grease on his body to stay away from the jellyfish and sharks. “One pilot boat with GPS system will monitor my stay in the water. Both Sri Lanka and Indian Navy will give protection in their respective borders,” he said. He said he would use freestyle during his pursuit and whenever he needed relaxation he would take up breast and back strokes. “The water temperature will be 28 degree Celsius. Throughout my stay in the water I will be on liquid diet taking lemon water and other health drinks.”

Mr. Chaitanya recently swam a distance of 26 kilometres from Bhimeeli to Vishakhapatnam just to get used the sea and he covered the distance in less than 10 hours.

Next goal

“My next goal is to swim in Zurich Lake in Switzerland and cover a distance of 27 km,” signed off Mr. Chaitanya.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by J. R. Shridharan / Vijayawada – March 17th, 2018