The winning strokes

Shraddha Solanki

Competing for her nation, parents and that little girl who fell in love with water is Chandigarh’s swimmer Chahat Arora. She is 22-year-old and an international swimmer with a national record holder in 100mt breaststroke. She has completed her graduation from MCM DAV College, Sector-36, Chandigarh.

She represented India at South-Asian Games in Nepal in 2019 and won two gold medals and a silver medal. She also set her second national record in the same event. She was felicitated by the President for her achievement. Read on to gather the candid confessions of this young achiever.

Motivational factor

“My parents are my biggest motivational factor. Winning is rewarding but when I see how proud they are of me, it’s the cherry on the cake. Making them and my country proud is what nudges me to work and practice hard every day. Something else that drives me is that I am in constant competition and I strive to beat my own timings and push my own limits.”

Feathers in the Cap

Chahat Arora has represented the nation in several international platforms and brought laurels to the country. She has been felicitated and honoured by the President, Ramnath Kovind. Chahat is a silver medallist in the 50m breaststroke event in the 69th National Aquatic Championship at Rajkot in 2015. She bagged a gold medal in senior nationals for two years (2016 & 2017) in a row with a national record in 100 mt breaststroke in the year 2017. In 2016, Chahat won a bronze medal and gold in South- Asian Games in Guwahati and four gold medals in South-Asian Championship held in Sri Lanka. She won the medley relay (4X100m) bronze medal in Asian Age Group Swimming Championships in Tashkent in 2017. At the event, she set a national record in 100mt breaststroke. She claimed the silver medal in the women’s 4X100 medley relay event in Asian Age Group Swimming Championships in Bengaluru in 2019. She won silver and bronze medals in 50m and 100m breaststroke events, respectively, in the nationals at Bhopal, 2019. She went on to set a national record and win two gold and a silver medal in South Asian Games held in Nepal, 2019.

Flip side of being an achiever

“The main drawback of being an achiever is the pressure of performing well every single time. Your parents and your coaches constantly expect you to perform better every time. The other drawback to being an achiever is that you have to sacrifice a lot if you wish to be an elite athlete. You have to control your diet, every day before sunrise, train harder every day, miss your friend’s birthdays and sometimes your own in order to be the best in your game. But all these sacrifices are worth it when you’re standing on the podium with the National Anthem playing in the background.”

Words of wisdom

“The quote I live by is “If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail” said by swimmer Mark Spitz. These words are true for all situations of life; if we aren’t prepared for something then we have already accepted our failure in it. To achieve anything in life there is some amount of preparation required and one has to put in those hours if they really desire it.”