W h o d o e s n ' t k n o w L i y a n a F a t h i m a U m a r N i z a r ? N o w i n A S L e v e l , G P S I n t e r n a t i o n a l , L i y a n a h a s b e e n r e a c h i n g n e w h e i g h t s f o r a d e c a d e n o w . B r e a k i n g r e c o r d s a n d l e a v i n g h e r m a r k w h e r e v e r s h e g o e s , w e j u s t c o u l d n o t h a v e a S p e c i a l E d i t i o n o f I n s i g h t w i t h o u t i n v i t i n g h e r f o r a t a l k .
I . H o w d i d y o u f i r s t g e t i n t o s w i m m i n g ? W h e r e d o y o u w a n t t o g o n e x t ?
I wasn ’ t always passionate about swimming . Before joining GPS , I used to live in Dubai , and my father wanted to send me to swimming classes . He sent me , along with two of my cousins , to weekly or daily swimming lessons , but I was not interested in it at all . Swimming in the pool , particularly the deeper side , was daunting to me at the age of 6 . My cousins , being older than me , were able to pick it up a lot faster than me . I felt left out and that made me resent and dislike the classes as a whole . I would make up the silliest excuses to skip class , ranging from “ I am scared of the water ” to “ I have a stomach ache ”. Eventually , my father gave up on teaching me to swim .
Then , in Grade 1 , we moved to Ernakulam and I joined GPS , where we had PE and swimming lessons every week . Being introduced to a more easy-going and fun environment , where I swam with my friends , made me feel more interested towards the sport . I learned to swim better , and started to really enjoy it .
Bhagya Ma ’ am was the school coach at that time . One day , she asked me to join the school swimming team and attend the morning training . My parents did not take me seriously when I told them , because of how I had behaved in the past . In the end , Bhagya Ma ’ am had to call them herself for them to believe me . My father allowed me to attend , and that ’ s how I started swimming . Then , in the year 2012-13 , Santhosh Sir joined as our school coach . Every competition and medal I have won so far is a result of his training .
On where I plan to go next , I am not really sure . Frankly , I have never had a big , specific dream . I always swim in the moment . I prefer to focus on doing my best in training and enjoy it as much as I can . How I feel in the water and after practice is more important than swimming to win something specific . So I have always prioritised improving my current timings rather than winning medals . I prefer to go with the flow , and see where my best effort takes me .
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