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[August 24, 2004 - 10.45 GMT] The ace Indian swimmer Bula Chowdhury became the first woman ever to cross the seven Seas when she swam the 40 km Palk Strait that connects India and Sri Lanka on Friday.Ironically the seas closest to her home was to be her last conquest. The ethnic conflict in northern Sri Lanka was one of the reasons for the postponement. Chowdhury, popularly known as the water-baby of Bengal, plunged into the water at Talaimannar, Nothern Sri Lanka at 2.30 am (Indian Standard Time) Friday morning and touched Dhanushkodi shores, Tamil Nadu 13 hours and 52 minutes later. The Thirty-four-year-old swimmer whose childhood dream was to cross seven seas has reportedly said that swimming across Palk Strait was the toughest experience of her career.
Her odyssey of seven seas began in 1999 when she crossed the English Channel for the second time; her first success was in 1989. She crossed the strait of Gibralter in Spain on August 18, the following year in a womens world record time of three hours and 35 minutes, a feat which still stands. Chowdhury also crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea from Zannone to San Felice Cicero in Italy (2001), the International Toroneus Gulf crossing at Greece (2002), the Catalina Channel in the US from Catalina Island to San Pedro (2002) and Cook Strait in New Zealand (2003). Bula Chowdhury arrived in Colombo with her husband and coach Sanjeev Chakroborty and her ten-year-old son Sarvoojee on August 12. During her swim, Chowdhury was escorted by the Sri Lankan Navy up to the international waters from Thalaimannar and from there by the Indian Navy. She was accompanied by her husband and her son in a boat all along the way. Swimming across the Palk Strait was a regular contest between Sri Lanka and India back in 1960s, but this was stopped in 1970s, when the two countries signed a water sharing agreement.
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