Gaurvi Singhvi, the 14 year old from Udaipur, has become the darling of the nation with her 16km and 36km swim in rough waters, and that too in record time.

The District Sports Association, felicitated Gaurvi as she returned to her native Udaipur after spending a good one month in Mumbai, training to achieve her dream and subsequently achieving what she set out to do.

Those present at the event that took place at Hotel Alka today afternoon, included Mayor Chandra Singh Kothari, UIT Secretary Rajendra Srimali and authorities from the District Sports Association.

In their address to the audience, both the Mayor as well as the UIT Secretary, were full of appreciation for Guarvi’s efforts and that of her coach, Mahesh Paliwal.  Mayor Kothari said that the city’s pursuit towards excellence included mentoring youngsters who show an affiliation towards any sport.  With this motive, efforts towards modernization of sports facilities and in keeping with the momentum, improving facilities, building new and better infrastructure for sports, etc was one of the priorities on the list of the administration.

Gaurvi’s grandfather, who was alongside her on the dias, said that his grand daughter had started swimming when she was 5 years old and learning the ropes at the swimming pool at Shilpi Resort, she went on to train under Dileep at the BN Swimming pool before honing her skills further under Mahesh Paliwal at Khel Gaon.  Udaipur, being the City of Lakes, provided her ample opportunity to explore her duress and potential with plenty of open water available around the city.

Gaurvi, on her part, dedicated the achievement to her coach Mahesh Paliwal and her mother.  Subsequent to achieving the 16 km swim in record time of just under 4 hours and then following it up a few days later with a 36 km swim again in record time of 6 hours 35 minutes, Gaurvi now looks at doing the other circuit in Mumbai, which is 42 km, before she attempts her dream pursuit, crossing the English Channel.  Looking at her pursuit of excellence and commitment at such a young age, this would be achieved in record time as well.

On being asked on to mention a few tough moments during the swim, Gaurvi said that she was looking at the lighthouse which was there in her route, and everytime she saw it, she felt that she was not moving.

Revealing a few difficult moments during the swim, her coach said that there came a period during the swim, when the escort boat, in which the lifeguard crew, he himself and Gaurvi’s parents were travelling, witnessed engine failure and it took 30 minutes for the boat to start again.  Oblivious to this, Gaurvi kept on swimming and when the boat finally caught up with her, she had done around 8 km.

When a member from the press asked her to say a few words to the audience, she merely said that one should never give up on their dreams, and that there is no way that one shall not achieve what he or she as set out to achieve.

Further on during the event, members of the dias and other eminent persons who were present, felicitated Gaurvi and Mahesh Paliwal with garlands and trophies.