Till recently, it was about Rashmi alone. Now, the ace swimmer from Kolkata has found a partner in her plunge for bigger exploits. Earlier this month, few followed the mind-boggling achievements of young swimming sisters Rashmi and Richa Sharma. The young Kidderpore sisters successfully completed the dual swim across the Strait of Gibraltar on a breezy

August 7 morning at the Spain-Morocco connector.

Rashmi is 21 and her sister Richa is all of just 17. As the two sisters completed the swim against all odds, they became the first duo from the country to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar, which is considered in the swimming circuit as among the toughest in the world.

Rashmi gave the icing on the cake when she followed up the Strait of Gibraltar swim with yet another English Channel dip — crossing the hallowed strip for the third time in her fledgling career on long distance swimming. As Rashmi successfully completed the English Channel on August 14, she became the only female swimmer from the whole of Asia to make the swim three times.

Rashmi first crossed the English Channel back in July 2006 when she was an 18-year-old. She then repeated the feat the very next year. Rashmi went for the hat-trick in 2008, but had to abort the mission at the last moment because of inclement weather. This year, she eventually realised her dream of making it across the English Channel three times. She timed it to perfection, successfully completing the swim just a week after the much tougher Strait of Gibraltar swim.

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