Bangladeshi swimmers Mahfizur Rahman Sagor and Nazmul Haque Himel will attempt to cross the English Channel with two Indian swimmers between July 22 and 25.
Sagor and Himel will leave for England on July 7 and will spend at least ten days adjusting to cold water before taking on the open-water challenge of the Atlantic.
The duo will attempt to traverse the Atlantic Ocean canal that separates southern England and northern France 37 years after Mosharraf Hossain, a South Asian Games gold medallist, did in 1987.
In 1958, the late Brojen Das became the first Bangladeshi and South Asian swimmer to cross the channel during the Pakistan era. He crossed the 33.4-kilometre channel five more times by September 1961.
鈥榃e feel proud that we have taken an attempt to cross the English Channel after Brojen sir (Das) and Mosharraf Hossain crossed the channel鈥t will be a breakthrough if we can cross the channel, 鈥榮aid Himel.听
Himel was talking to press after the official press conference of the 37th National Age-group Swimming Championships at the Bangladesh Olympic Association auditorium on Tuesday.
'It is quite difficult because the water temperature ranges between 15 and 19 degrees Celsius. In China, I swam in 19-degree water. It wasn't much of an issue. Furthermore, jellyfish and traffic of ships are two additional problems,' Himel responded to a question.听
The Channel Swimming Association originally assigned Sagor and Himel a slot in 2028, but they moved it up to 2025 after opting to swim a relay with India's Elvis Ali Hazarika and Rimo Saha, two swimmers who had already crossed Europe's North Channel in 2022.
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