47 year old Syamala Goli from Telangana became the second woman in the world to swim across the Palk Strait. She accomplished this feat on Thursday, at the 30 km Palk Bay Swimming expedition. She is also the 13th swimmer to have accomplished this.
This contest, which was flagged off by C.Velupillai Kandaiah Sivagnanam, Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka, spans from the Palk Strait in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in India. In a press release, the Indian High Commission referred to this as the event that established connectivity between the people of Sri Lanka and India.
It is to be noted that Syamala represented Telangana in the 2020 FINA World Masters Championship in Gwanju, South Korea. In Nov 2020, she swam a 30 km stretch in the Great Ganges River in Patna and secured 6th position with timing of 110 minutes. She is also multitalented, as she is also an animation film producer and director.
Syamala said in an interview that she believes that her crossing the Palk Strait will be an achievement for the whole of womanhood and hopes that this would inspire women to aim higher and believe that nothing is impossible.
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