Young swimming sensation Rashmi Sharma and her sister Richa may be the toast of the town these days for successfully crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. But the Kidderpore sisters literally dropped a bombshell today.

A day after returning to the city after the Strait of Gibraltar campaign, 21-year-old Rashmi lamented that her future in long-distance swimming is really bleak because of a perennial funds crisis. Speaking to reporters today, ace swimmer Rashmi pointed out that despite her successes, her future campaigns are not likely considering that there’s been no significant financial support.

Rashmi and Richa together crossed the Strait of Gibraltar on August 7, and the next week, the elder sister Rashmi went on to become the first female swimmer from Asia to cross the English Channel thrice. She successfully completed the difficult English Channel swim on August 14 — having swum across the Channel back in 2006 and 2007.

For the Kidderpore sisters’ Strait of Gibraltar campaign, their father, a retired navy officer, spent Rs 15 lakh entirely by himself to fund the mission. And then of course there was the English Channel swim.

While Rashmi is the more experienced of the two, Richa is all of just 17 and the Strait of Gibraltar feat was her maiden successful mission in the world of long distance swimming.

“My father has been organizing the funds for this trip for four years now,” Rashmi recalled. “Luckily, last year I got a proper sponsorship. But this, it was difficult organizing the funds and my father had a tough time. If this scenario continues, that is, if I don’t get sponsors, then I don’t know whether I will be able to continue. I really don’t know about my future plans,” Rashmi lamented.

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