CHARLES DSOUZA
MARGAO
At a time when football fans here have their eyes glued onto FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, the 17-year-old swimmer Xavier D’Souza has done Goa proud by winning one gold, two silver and one bronze medal during the 45th Glenmark Junior National Aquatic Championship in Pune. However going forward, the talented teenager’s dream could run into financial challenge.
Xavier, who trains at the Glenmark TIDM Progamme in Mumbai, bagged the prestigious gold medal in 50m butterfly event.
The Mapusa-born swimmer participated and finally tasted success in his sixth Nationals. He had failed to make it to the podium couple of years back at the sub-junior and junior aquatic championship in Bangalore. However, the top Goan swimmer has now managed to stand out from the rest as he was the only individual swimmer from Goa to have the won medals at the meet.
Xavier’s turnaround is an inspiring story. “I was doing well earlier but it was not enough to achieve such results by staying in Goa. There was no one to push me beyond my limits and no competition, so I moved to Bengaluru and Mumbai,” says Xavier.
“I would like to dedicate these medals to my grandmother Feliciano D’Souza, who is wheelchair bound. She aided me financially so that I could reach greater height. My brother Augustine is also responsible for my exploits. He is a constant support to me,” he said.
“My aim is to perform better and bring laurels to the state. I am looking forward to the Senior National Aquatic Championship at Kerala from September 2018,” he added.
Commenting on his performance, Xavier said: “I am absolutely delighted to have won four medals one gold , two silver and one bronze. The four medals at the championship made me more determined to get better and win the medals. I am now even more hungry to go out and win more events and better my own self with every passing year. Going into the championship, I had the goal to win.”
The son of a restuarant-owner from Mapusa, Xavier has been training with Bushan Kumar and Peter Carswell in Mumbai. The results are encouraging for Xavier who stays with his father John D’Souza and mother Emillia D’Souza in Mumbai.
John said: “I am proud of him. Any parent would feel that way if his kid is doing well. More than winning medals, I want my child to be grounded.This is the one thing I have always taught him.”
“My father runs a small restaurant in Mapusa, so financially the journey has been a tough choice for us,” said Xavier.
“There are good coaches in Goa but the infrastructure is not really good.We had to move out as I could not improve much there,” he added. Xavier’s father John feels Mumbai will be good for his son’s training but it won’t be that easy. “Swimming is an expensive sport. As of now we are getting help from Xavier’s grandmother, but as he graduates to the Senior-level, it will be beyond our reach,” he said .
“We spent around 20 lakhs on his swimming assignment yearly and now Glenmark Aquatic Foundation is helping us. I hope it leads to help from the sponsors. I am very thankful to Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, who is the president of Swimming Federation of India. He was impressed with his hard work and he is helping my son to scale new height,” John concluded.
