CHENNAI: At the junior national aquatics championships taking place in 2019, a young boy from Tirunelveli hoped to make a splash as in butterfly. However, that attempt went in vain as he finished eighth in the 100m final. After that moment, he went up to his mother, who was in the stands, sullen and in despair. The mother insisted that he gave himself another chance. “If you don’t improve, you can call quit,” was what his mother told him. The teen gave himself another chance, and in the National School Games in November the same year, he won gold and was on an upward trajectory. From almost quitting to a national record, has been his journey.

On Sunday, the then teen, now 21, broke the national record (NR) in the men’s 100m butterfly with a timing of 52.57s. This is Benedicton Rohit, Tamil Nadu’s latest record man in the pool. It can be said that Kavitha Sheebarani’s advice on not giving yourself up and trusting one’s ability coupled with hard work has quite an impact on his son.

Rohit has had a not-too-memorable time in the pool. Beginning his journey in 2009 as a backstroker, he tried his hand in all styles(backstroke, breastroke, butterfly, and freestyle), but couldn’t find any suitable to him. Post the win in 2019 in the fly event, he switched back to breaststroke, before making a ‘comeback’ in the 2021 Khelo India University Games. Training under coach Nihar Ameen of the Dolphins Academy in Bengaluru, Rohit switched to the 100m. “Nihar sir liked my technique and helped me improve it,” he told this daily.