Although only 15 years of age, Lekha Kamat has a commendable sense of balance. Even as she is an excellent swimmer with a rich haul of trophies in national and international aquatic championships under her belt, she is also a star pupil of the Father Agnel School, Navi Mumbai, averaging 91.38 percent in her class X board examination which she wrote in March this year. Soon after, at the 34th Junior National Aquatic Championship held in August, this sprint swimmer who specialises in the 50 and 100 metres free style and butterfly stroke events, bagged four gold medals in these categories and one in the 50 metres backstroke event.

At age five, Lekha took to swimming and started training at the Navi Mumbai Sports Club, participating in her first national aquatic championships in Bangalore four years later in 2003. “I was too nervous and didn’t do well in my first national meet. But I got an idea of the level of competition and came back determined to improve my timings,” she recalls.

Since then she has made good her resolution. Following rigorous training, she was selected to represent India in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games conducted in Colombo between August 9-19, 2006. Lekha struck gold in the 50 m and 100 m events in both the free style and butterfly stroke categories. Although well short of Olympic records, her timings of 29.55 seconds in 50 m butterfly (Olympic record 25.57), 1.04.51 in 100 m butterfly (56.61), 1.00.76 in 100 m (53.42) and 27.70 in 50 m freestyle, are the best in SAARC countries.

Though pleased with her performance in the classroom and swimming pool, like a growing number of youth in young India who aspire to meet global benchmarks, Lekha is not content. Now a class XI science student at Fr. Agnel School, she has set her sights on attaining Olympic timings in the 50 m butterfly and freestyle. “I have to improve my timings 25 percent. It’s a tall order but not impossible,” she says.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)