Pratyasha Ray: Odisha’s new swimming sensation

Pratyasha Ray: Odisha’s new swimming sensation

At 18 years of age, Pratyasha Ray has emerged as one of the best swimmers of Odisha. With
an impeccable technique and timing, she has brought laurels to the State by guaranteeing
medals in many national swimming championships.

Pratyasha announced her arrival on the big stage at the 43rd Junior National Aquatic
Championship at Bangalore in 2016 by bagging a triple gold. She won the gold in 50 meter and
and 100 meter backstroke events by clocking 32.87 seconds and 1.10.47 seconds respectively.
She completed her hat-trick by pocketing the 200 meter backstroke gold with a timing of 2.35.57 seconds.

The Bhubaneswar-based girl was introduced to swimming when she was around 4 years old. As
she was suffering from a medication allergy which made her immune system weak and it was
difficult for her heart and lungs to function at full capacity, the doctor suggested for her to start
swimming and this worked for her. As she started recovering, she fell in love with swimming.

Pratyasha said, “People here do not take swimming, as a sport, seriously. So initially, I was not
so sure about taking it up as a career. But from 2014, I started to win medals. I thought if I can
win medals for Odisha and India, then why not give it my best.”

In 2014, she won the bronze for Odisha in girls 50 meter backstroke at the Sub-junior National
Swimming Championship. She became the second national medalist in swimming for the State.
“After that medal, I became sure that I was really good at swimming and decided to take it up as
a competitive sport. Since then I have not looked back,” said Pratyasha on her first national
medal.

In 2015, she won the bronze in 200 meter backstroke in the Women National Sports Festival
and a silver medal each in 100 meter backstroke and 50 meter butterfly events of the School
Games Federation of India National Championship.

Currently, Pratyasha is training with Sharath Chandra, Head Coach at 0disha JSW Swimming High Performance Center. They started working together in March 2020. Sharath said, “Pratyasha no doubt is one of the best swimmers in Odisha but we had to redefine her goals in order to improve her performance at the national level.”

Just before starting her training at the Odisha JSW HPC, Pratyasha had won three silver medals at the Khelo India Youth Games at Guwahati in January 2020. So it was important to for her to get the best facilities to improve her technique and timings. After a break in training
because of the Covid-9 situation, the young swimmer has bounced back well.

Sharath feels Pratyasha stands out from the rest of the swimmers because she is extremely
hard working and her technical skills in the water are superior to others. The coach informed
that the plan now is to prepare the In the next couple of years the plan is to prepare the
swimmer for international level. “The upcoming National Championship will be held from March
24 to 27. This is our short term goal. But in the long run, we are looking forward to how she can
qualify the timings for 2024 Olympics,” Sharath said.

“Pratyasha is a mentally strong athlete, the reason why she has been such a high achiever in a
short span of time. She definitely has the potential to qualify for the Olympics. We are going one
step at a time so that Olympics becomes a consequence of our cumulative effort,” the coach
added.

Currently, a +3 first year student, Pratyasha’s day begins at 4:30 am in the morning and consists
of her degree classes, two sessions of swimming, and gym. “I am happy with my performance so
far. I know I can do even better in the future,” the new swimming sensation added.