Seven-year-old Ishank Singh from Jharkhand has become the youngest swimmer to cross the Palk Strait, completing a 29-km open sea swim from Sri Lanka to India in 9 hours and 50 minutes on April 30, an event recognised by the Universal Records Forum (URF), which said he was the ‘Youngest and Fastest Palk Strait Swimmer’.

The crossing from Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar towards Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu is considered one of the toughest open-water swims due to strong currents and unpredictable sea conditions.

For his mother, Manisha Sinha, the journey began years earlier, when Ishank was barely three. “He had a craze for swimming since childhood.…