Pasupati Kundu is one amongst those coaches in Indian swimming who remained out of the glare of the media.
Mr.Kundu had represented & won many medals for West Bengal at the National Level Swimming Tournaments from 1964 to 1972. Post that, from 1972 -74, based on his performance he was selected to represent the Indian Railways Team.
With many National Medals in his kitty, he had started coaching budding swimmers since 1970. Some of my Disciples include Ela Paul (who was a National Champion till 1979 and had also participated in International events, along with this, the Bengali Sports Inspirational movie named Koni has been filmed on her).
Some of his meritorious trainees include Padmashri Bula Chowdhury (Arjuna Awardee and Tenzing Norgay Awardee), International Medalist, 1st Indian to swim Seven Seas, she was National Champion till 1996) looking at her Performances many ace Swimmers of India came and trained under him.
Next, is the history creator and India’s highest performer Prasanta Karmakar (Arjuna Awardee, Kolkata Shree Awardee, 1st Indian Swimmer to win Commonwealth Games medal, 3 consecutive years 5 times Asian Games Medalist), Late Masudur Rahman Vaidya, who was one of the successful and renowned channel swimmers from the state. Other trainees include Samir Bose (National Champion and was qualified for Junior Asian Age Group Championship), Samar Kundu, Apurvo Sahu, Siddharth Bose, Jagannath Mondal, Manas Bose, Sukhen Karmakar, Vishwanath Kundu, Meena Thapa, Sukla Bhandari, Kajal Mondal, Indrani Bagh and many more National Champions.
Since 1996, I have started giving training in different clubs in West Bengal and trainees from there are Medalist at International and National level. The club’s where I was fortunate to share my knowledge were Calcutta Swimming Club, Bali Swimming Club (1981-84), Konnagar Swimming Centre (my trainees there were Debu Das, Samarendra Das), Srirampur Santaran Club, Chatra Swimming Club, Hitmoter Swimming Club, Kungla Municipal Swimming Pool (where he trained Sayani.Das who has swum English Channel and represented India in Junior Age Group Championship.
He always says, it was his honour to be able to make India and Bengal feel proud by the achievements of my athletes. I was honoured again to be the Chief Coach of the Bengal Swimming Team from 1981-84 and 1986-87 when West Bengal was the Overall and Individual Champion. Which is said to be the Golden Era of Swimming in Bengal.
From the year 2005 – 2013 he was the Coach of the Bengal Disabled Swimming Team and here too the team was Overall Champion and many from bengal team were individual champions, such as the likes of Prasanta Karmakar (Arjuna Awardee), Bholanath Dalui, Sukanto Mondal, Babul Mukhorjee, Priyomoto Sadhu, Alok Mondal (Asian Championship Medallist), Kochon Bala Mondal, Monica Surjoroy, Sakina Khatun (who then shifted from swimming to weightlifting, and is the part of the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Paralympic Games), Shahida Khatun, Parvati Jana and many more National and International Medalist and swimmers.
Smiling at 71, Pasupati kundu feels privileged to be able to help swimmers and motivate them to find their way to success in the sport. Further he said, currently due to health issues I am not able to completely dedicate myself to swimming coaching, but if anyone wants guidance I am ready to help them.
India needs more and more such dedicated & committed coaches. Surely it will take Indian Sports to the next level.
 |
Dr. Meenakshi Pahuja, International Swimmer and Assistant Professor, Physical Education Swimming Expert & Sports Consultant Author, Swimming Statistical Bulletin www.indiaswimming.com |
