Swimmers, sports lovers and students accorded a rousing reception to 16-year-old swimmer T. Sethumanickavel as he reached Palayamkottai, his native place, on Saturday afternoon after winning the silver medal in the 100-metre backstroke event in the South Asian Games at Guwahati.

Accompanied by ‘chenda melam’ and a caparisoned elephant, the floral reception accorded to the young swimmer on a sultry afternoon by Rajya Sabha MP Vijila Sathyananth even as the public crossing the Chellapandian Traffic Island were looking at the teen in awe, will certainly motivate him to achieve more in the aquatic meets in the future.

Having made his presence felt in school, divisional and State-level swimming competitions in the past, lanky Sethu has won several medals in the national events since 2012 and got fourth place in the international meets for school students.

While bagging 6th place in the international students’ meet held at Israel in 2014, Sethu managed to secure fourth place in a similar meet in Poland in the next year.

During an informal chat with reporters on reaching Palayamkottai, Mr. Sethu made it clear that his next target was winning gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games and then medals in the 2020 Olympics. “If the Central and the State Governments, which are executing various schemes for encouraging young sportsmen, can help me, I’ll certainly win medals for my country,” Sethu said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Tirunelveli – February 1th, 2016