PANAJI
Arguably one of the finest young aquatic talents in the country, Goa’s Xavier D’Souza is proving every indication of his exemplary prowess in the water making a clean sweep of his events at the State Aquatic Championship which concluded at Campal, Panaji on Sunday. The 16-year-old unassuming lad hauled up five Golds in 50m Backstroke, 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly.
At an early age of eight, Xavier was introduced by his mother, Emillia D’Sa to Thomas Jose, the then SAI Coach, RCC Batch at the swimming pool at Campal, Panaji. Xavier took to the pool as fish takes to water and ever since there was no looking back.
Within a year of being under the tutelage of Jose, the young swimmer learned all the strokes. And in 2010, aged 10, he took part in his first State Aquatic Championship in Group IV (10 yrs and under) wherein he performed credibly well snaring 3 Gold, apart from a Silver and Bronze respectively. He has since won over 100 medals at the State level with at least 70 being Gold.Though he may have participated in the Nationals the same year, his performance at that level left much to be desired.
“I did not win anything. Probably I was the slowest,” he matter-a-factly admitted. While he continued to excel in school, local and State meets picking up medals as if it were his wont, his performance at a higher level began to shape for the better after moving to Bengaluru in October 2014.
This was after moving base to Dolphins Aquatics Bengaluru from his coastal village of Vagator in Goa. “After coming to Bengaluru, I started improving and making it to the finals of National events. I started winning gold medals and became among the fastest swimmers in the country,” the Michael Phelps fan remarked.
While not compromising on his studies, the St Anthony High School, Monte de Guirim student who came to Goa for his exams, began to revel in the pool refining his breathing and stroke techniques. “My then coach Nihar Amin corrected my breathing technique on my butterfly stroke while focusing on a lot of other techniques that helped,” Xavier stated.
The following year, Xavier began to bring fruition of the hard-work put in by Amin which was infused in his skill sets. At the School Nationals in February 2015 at Rajkot, Gujarat in Group II (Boys U-14) he claimed three Gold - 100m Butterfly, 100m Backstroke and 200m Backstroke.
In the Junior Nationals in July that year in Pune in Group II, he once again secured three gold - 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke, while also picking a silver in 100m Backstroke and a bronze in 200m Backstroke. His sterling performance in the aforesaid event, earned him his first direct qualification from the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) to compete in his first ever international event.
At the Asian Age Group Championship, in Bangkok, Thailand in October, representing India, Xavier snapped up two Bronze - 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly. He performed decently well in the Backstroke events as well coming fourth and fifth in the 50m and 100m respectively.He had the distinction of being the lone Goan swimmer from among 36 swimmers from the country to qualify for the event.
In 2016, at the Junior Nationals in July in Bengaluru in Group I (U-17), he won a Gold in 50m Backstroke, Silver medals in 50m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke respectively. Incidentally, Xavier shrugged off a spate with jaundice to participate in the competition after being discharged from hospital only eight days earlier for an impactful performance.
A glowing trait of courage and conviction to overcome health battles to pride himself in the pool. Later in October, he was part of the 70-odd strong delegation of swimmers sent by SFI to participate at the South Asian Aquatic Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The lone Goan to represent the country, Xavier picked up two bronze - 50m Backstroke, 100m Backstroke while giving a good account of himself in the 50m butterfly finishing fourth.
Post the competition in the Emerald isle, Xavier moved base to Mumbai where he began to train under the Glenmark Aquatic Foundation and has been since - a move made possible by SFI President and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
Last month, representing his Club, Glenmark Aquatic Championship, Xavier took part in the Thailand Age Group Aquatic Championship at Thammasat University, Bangkok. In only his third international event, he picked three medals - gold in 200m Backstroke, silver in 100m Butterfly, bronze in 50m Butterfly. After the State Aquatic Championships, Xavier will return to his base and start preparations in the right earnest for the Junior Nationals (Group I) to be held from July 3-7 in Pune.
Currently pursuing his Class X through NIOS, Xavier envisions a dream to represent India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on an A-Card and get a medal for the country.
