Nagpur: Head constable Sukhadeo Dhurve, 46, part of city police’s Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), led his family, including nine-year-old daughter Tanvi and 17-year-old son Sarthak, in completing a relay swimming expedition from Elephanta to Gateway of India. Covering the distance of 16km in 4 hours and 31 minutes last year earned them a place in this year’s India Book of Records.
The family has earlier been featured in the Asia Book of Records in 2019. Sukhadeo had also earned the title of ‘world’s fastest tribal swimmer’ from the organizers after he had crossed the Strait of Gibraltar at Spain in 2009, in 4 hours and 45 minutes.
The Dhurves, residing at Ganeshpeth police quarters, are a family that bonds over swimming. They are also gearing up to cross the English Channel and Palk Strait, which are both about 35km wide. The family stretches their swimming practice sessions longer and harder at the pool of Kamgar Kalyan Mandal, at Raghuji Nagar in Sakkardara.
Avid swimmer Sukhadeo’s journey began in the small ponds and rivers at Kondhali, near Nagpur, where he fell in love with the sport. Swimming helped Sukhadeo, who came from a struggling farmer’s family, to get a sports quota job in the police force in 1997. His first major recognition came after he swam the strait from Dharamtar to Gateway of India, a distance of 35km, in 9 hours and 18 minutes, making him the first police constable in Maharashtra police to do so.
Swimming gave Sukhadeo not only accolades for his achievements in adventure swimming in India and abroad, but also the love of his life, wife Vaishali. She too had represented RTM Nagpur University in national level competitions and is a zilla parishad teacher. “We are four souls in the family bonded by a common dream to take our national flag higher in adventure swimming, representing Nagpur city police,” said Sukhadeo.
“My wife runs the show in the house, practices and also looks after the children. I chase my dream and passion for swimming, which is shared by my family,” he said. “My daughter (Tanvi) is a prospect, and I am gearing up to groom her personally,” said the cop. His anti-sabotage duties in checking premises for explosives also make his work equally challenging and demanding.
Vaishali said it is a challenge for her too to ensure the family is taken care of. “I go to school and also take my children for swimming practice,” she said. Amid the busy schedule, Tanvi cannot help point out that her mother made four types of Diwali ‘chiwda’ in two hours.
The family’s swimming zeal finds it’s ultimate expression in the words of Tanvi, the youngest member of the Dhurve family, who wants to follow in her father’s wake and become an Olympic medal winner.