The open water swimming champion Bhakti Sharma has set the world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in 1 degree temperature at Antarctic Ocean. She is the first women of India to achieve this feat, beating the record of British open water swimming champion Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox.
She is now the youngest citizen of the world and the first Asian girl to have achieved this success. Bhakti Sharma has now conquered all the 5 oceans of the world.
Hindustan Zinc had come forward to sponsored Bhakti Sharma towards her mission. Hearing the news, Akhilesh Joshi, the Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Zinc said, “we are very proud of Bhakti Sharma for this rare achievement. Whole country is proud of her and particularly girls who would be seeing her as inspiration to join swimming. Her achievement only proves that given the right support and opportunities India can produce many such talents.”
As informed, Bhakti expressed her gratefulness towards Hindustan Zinc for supporting her when she had lost hope for her mission and needed the support.
Bhakti Sharma has been pursuing open water swimming for the last 10 years and has also swam across 4 oceans, 8 channels and seas, which itself is a world record. These records have been made by her during the year 2004-2010. In the year 2010 President of India awarded her with Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award. In 2006 Rajasthan government also recognized and commended her efforts.