Swimmer Kenisha is a winner with three golds in Uzbekistan

Mumbai swimmer Kenisha Gupta

Mumbai swimmer Kenisha Gupta,18, who won gold medals in 50m freestyle, 100m and 200m freestyle, is glad to contribute the three medals to a tally of 29 (18 gold, seven silver and four bronze medals) at the Uzbekistan Open Championship recently. Talking to mid-day.com, Gupta, who is part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), spoke about how the COVID-19 lockdown affected her training, her aims and how it felt good to participate in her first international event after almost a year in lockdown.

In the 50m freestyle event, she swam her course in 26.61 seconds in the final race-0.25 seconds faster than second-placed Natalya Kritinina of Uzbekistan. Gupta, who trains under Dronacharya award-winning coach Nihar Ameen, was 0.24 seconds behind Shikha Tandon's national record of 26.37 seconds set at the Malaysian Open in 2008. Earlier, Gupta won the women's 100m freestyle event with a national record timing of 57.42 seconds and the 200m, clocking 2:06.66 seconds - also her personal best. She upset Rio Olympian Shivani Kataria in both 100m and 200m to clinch gold.

"It was an honour to be a part of the Indian team and contribute three golds to the medal tally. I was delighted to have clocked some personal best times as well," Gupta, who started training since November at Otters Dolphin Swim Team under coaches Olympian Sandeep Sejwal and Vinod Nair, told mid-day.com.

Talking about how COVID-19-forced lockdown affected her, she said: "It was quite challenging to adjust to a more sedentary lifestyle. But as time passed, I learned to use whatever resources I had to my benefit. I chose to focus on my physical strength by training with the equipment I had at home. I made sure to maintain a routine which included cardio and strength training almost every day [with a good number of recovery days]."

Meanwhile, Gupta, a Class 12 student of the Fazlani L'Academie Globale, Mazagaon, learnt the importance of mental health and also a few new things during the lockdown last year. "I believe that mental health is as important as physical health. To keep myself mentally stimulated, I indulged in hobbies such as sketching with my mom, sewing with my grandmother, researched and co-authored a chapter on Diet and Diabetes for my dad's medical journal, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and beyond. I kept up with school work as well. I also managed to stay motivated by reminding myself of goals every day," remarked Gupta. Ahead of the Uzbekistan event, the Indian team had their national camp at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bangalore under Ameen. She found the 200 metres freestyle the most challenging of all events she participated in Uzbekistan. "I'm relatively new to swimming the event [200m freestyle]," said Gupta, who will join Northwestern University, Illinois in September this year.

And like all athletes, her ultimate dream remains the Olympics. "Ever since I was a little girl, my goal has been to be at the Olympics. I would love to pave the way for young girls in our country to pursue their swimming goals," the Nepeansea Road resident she signed off.