October 22, 2006 - Eight-year-old disabled Bhopal girl sets swimming record
Original Source: DailyIndia.com
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Oct.22 (ANI): Eight-year-old Eera Parihar’s mental disability might have restricted her to compete with other children of her age, but that did not come in her way to achieve a swimming record.
Eera has done her parents proud by swimming one kilometre in a 40-kilometre lake, considered the biggest lake in Bhopal in just 35-minutes on Friday.
Apart from being mentally challenged, Eera is also speech and hearing impaired.
The disability of their daughter has always been a concern for Eera’s parents who have exposed their daughter to swimming at the tender age of three and also engaged a private coach for her.
Mukesh Mishra, Eera’s coach, who has been training her for last two years, sees her achievement even bigger than any other laurels.
“Today, she swims about seven kilometres. I started coaching her two years back. It was really hard communicating with her. I had to spend a lot of time with her in order to train her. Now she will do whatever I will tell her to do. Today is just the beginning she will go far from here,” said Mukesh Mishra, coach of Eera Parihar.
Eera had won gold medal in 2005 Special Olympics held in Mumbai. She can not even talk but can swim like a fish in water.
The coach and parents are now training Eera to swim five kilometers in the sea near Mumbai’s Nariman Point. (ANI)
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