Noida's golden mermaids, sisters do it again

NOIDA: They might still be in their teens, but sisters Vasantika and Malika Handa are both swimming champions and have already won over 200 medals. Students of Kothari International School, the two girls have participated in umpteen district and state-level swimming championships, won numerous accolades, and are eying the national level championship to be held in Goa later this year.But swimming, they say, “happened to them by chance.”
“My grandmother was very keen on teaching my mother how to swim when she was young. However, my mother could never get over her fear of water and so my grandmother insisted that I must learn how to swim,” says 17-year-old Vasantika. Thus followed regular trips to the pool at the sector 15A club where Vasantika’s father Asim Handa, a former national level athlete himself, began coaching her. The parents pushed 15-year-old Malika to begin swimming as well.
It was in 2004 that Vasantika, then a student of DPS Noida, participated in a district level inter school swimming event and stood out that her teachers and the swimming coach took notice of her talent. “The coach at DPS insisted that Vasantika begin regular training and we pushed Malika towards taking up swimming a little more seriously,” says Shipra Handa, their mother.
Since then, there has been no looking back for the two siblings. Their most recent win was at the state level women’s championship at Lucknow on September 12 where Vasantika and Malika, along with other participants, Ashmi Choudhary and Saira Sirohi set a record by winning 11 golds.
This success however, has not come as easily for the two girls who have to squeeze in at least four hours of rigorous training, eight hours of school, homework and study sessions, all in a single day. Add to it a strict healthy diet — their coach Satish Chaudhary permits no indulgence in junk, unhealthy food, and almost no time to hang out with their friends and classmates. In fact, swimming schedules have begun dictating the entire family’s rhythm for the past couple of years now. Shipra accompanies her two daughters to all practice sessions and travels with them each time they go to participate in an event while Asim too takes time out from his busy schedule to attend events and cheer the girls.
“The girls hardly get any free time. They train each day at the school from 5.30am to 8am and again for two hours in the evening between 4pm and 6pm,” Shipra says. By the time the girls get to their house in sector 15A, all they wish to do is curl up in front of the television or listen to some music in their room, they say.
The two, however, have not let their grades slip on any occasion. “Vasantika and Malika are among the stars of the school. While they have extremely busy schedules, they also do very well in their exams and all of us at the school are very proud of them,” says Nidhi Sirohi, principal of Kothari International.
There are no cases of sibling rivalry between the girls. “It is only this year that we have been pitted against each other in a few events but both of us encourage each other and take pride in each other’s success,” says Malika. “Having an older sibling gives you someone to live up to and offers great support,” she says.
While neither of the siblings plan on taking up swimming as a career — Vasantika wishes to study economics after school and Malika is yet to decide what to take up — they maintain that they wish to keep participating in as many swimming events that come their way “for fun.” For now though, their eyes are all set on the state level championship at Bareilly for which they leave on Thursday with six other children from their school.