Indian long-distance swimmers Elvis Ali Hazarika of Assam and West Bengal's Rimo Saha have made history by becoming the first relay team from the country as well as Asia to cross the North Channel in Europe.
The ace swimmers also became the first from their respective states to successfully cross the North Channel, a strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland, in relay swimming.
The duo is the first Asian relay team to cross the North Channel and Hazarika is the oldest swimmer from India to achieve the feat in 14 hours and 38 minutes.
"I have been waiting for this day since a long time. After a lot of efforts and hours of pushing myself to work harder every day, I successfully became the first Assamese (North East) to cross the North Channel by swimming it in Relay Northern Ireland to Scotland," Hazarika said on his Facebook profile.
The team had to go through a lot of challenges, especially the huge Jelly fish that were accompanying them all the way, to complete the swim, he added. PTI
