66-year-old Karnataka Man sets new record for swimming 3.5 km with hands and legs tied

Mangaluru, Jan 25: Swimming 3.5 km in the Arabian sea for five hours and 35 minutes with his hands and legs chained, a 66-year-old man from Udupi has entered the Golden Book of World Records.

Gangadhar Kadekar, who entered the sea from Padukere beach shore in Udupi at 7.50 am on Monday, completed his swim by 1.25 pm. The representative from the Golden Book of World Records Manish Vishnoy, who watched the feat, issued a provisional certificate to Kadekar.

"The swimmer's achievement at an age when people retire and remain at home is really great," Vishnoy said. Kadekar said he swam like a dolphin as both his hands and legs were chained. "The record was created to make children to draw inspiration from it and I am happy," he said.

Kadekar had earlier entered the India Book of Records by swimming 1.4 km in 73.7 minutes by chaining his legs in the 'Padmasana' posture at Padukere on January 24, 2021. He also created a record by swimming with his 41 students at St Mary's Island on February 14, 2021.

Kadekar, who took to swimming at the age of 50, founded the Jai Durga swimming club in Udupi and has been providing training to youths for the last two years. More than 1,000 students are under training under him at present. He had taken part in state and national level aquatic championships and won 31 gold, 16 silver and nine bronze medals at the senior level.