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What’s the story?
Actor R. Madhavan’s son Vedaant Madhavan has done the nation proud by winning his first international medal in the 1500 metre freestyle swimming competition in the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships 2018. The 12-year-old returned home with a bronze medal, much to the happiness of his father, who took to social media to share the wonderful news.
In case you didn’t know…
This is not the first time that Vedaant has been in the news for his swimming accomplishments. The state-level winner had taken part in a Swimathon at the Khan Gym last year, where he swam 4 kilometres in less than 57 minutes.
The actor, who was a swimmer himself, has been giving his son swimming lessons and the youngster has been training seriously for the last four years. Vedaant graduated to take part in inter-state competitions after winning the state-level meet and even showed interest in taking up boxing whilst his father was preparing for the role of a boxer.
The heart of the matter
Madhavan’s young son has been known to be enthusiastic about swimming and wakes up every day at 5 am to pursue his passion alongside managing his school. The Swimming Championship that was held in Assumption University Swimming Pool in Prakan in Thailand saw Vedaant in Age Group 2 take part in the freestyle 1500 metre, with the preliminary heat succeeding the finals. The Indian stood third, to send his family and the country into jubilation.
What’s next?
The acclaimed actor has made his intentions clear of allowing his son the liberty to take part in any sport that he wishes to pursue. At such a young age, the dedication that has been exhibited by Vedaant has been encouraging and hopes of brighter glories remain.
Author’s take
In a country that remains obsessed with cricket, it is refreshing to see youngsters switch away from the particular game to try out sports like swimming and boxing, which aren’t as high-profile in India as cricket is. If the youngster can achieve greater summits, he can encourage the other aspirants to take up the sport as well, which will only be good news for Indian sports.
