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Maharashtra's Diksha Yadav continued her exploits at the inaugural Khelo India Beach Games, sweeping both gold medals on offer in the Open Sea Swimming event.
The 19-year-old from Maharashtra, picked up the yellow metal in both 10km and the 5km events at the Ghoghla Beach, Diu on Thursday morning. In the men's 5km open swim for men, Karnataka's Drupad Ramakrishna won gold, according to the SAI Media Release. Diksha, who has fallen in love with long-distance swimming, started playing when she was in class 10, training at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. This is just her second year in open water swimming, having been inspired by the accomplished American swimmer Katie Ledecky. "The double gold at KIBG 2025 is an achievement for all the practice I have undergone before coming here," said Diksha after her 5km victory on Thursday morning. She recorded a time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 12 seconds en route to her gold, as quoted from the SAI Media Release. This was also her first time challenging the Arabian Sea. "The water was calm, and there wasn't much difficulty. This Khelo India platform will help a lot going forward. Now I am focusing on getting the international selection this year and winning a medal for India at the World Championship open swimming category," Diksha Yadav added. In the men's 5km open swim, Karnataka's Drupad Ramakrishna recorded a time of 1 hour, six minutes, and 46 seconds to win the gold. However, the class 10 student is looking for more in his career, and the medal at the Khelo India Beach Games is just a pit-stop. "I have more competitions to go and more years to perform. I am hungry for more medals," said the 15-year-old Dhrupad. "At the Basavanagudi aquatic centre in Bangalore, we train continuously for 1-2 hours to adjust to sea swimming. Therefore, there is not much difference between there and here. Just that there are more waves here," he added. Results: 5km open Men: 1. Drupad Ramakrishna (Karnataka) 1:06:46; 2. Gundu Vishnu Vardhan (Telangana) 1:06:58; 3. Hemanth A (Tamil Nadu) 1:07:41 Women: 1. Diksha Yadav (Maharashtra) 1:10:12; 2. Purva Gawade (Maharashtra) 1:10:25; 3. Aasra R Sudhir (Karnataka) 1:10:29. (ANI)
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