Swimming prodigy commits suicide at Ghaziabad home

A 16-year-old swimmer with over 200 medals to her credit allegedly committed suicide at her residence in Govind Puram, Ghaziabad, late on Sunday night. No suicide note was recovered from the spot.

A 16-year-old swimmer with over 200 medals to her credit allegedly committed suicide at her residence in Govind Puram, Ghaziabad, late on Sunday night. No suicide note was recovered from the spot.

The victim, a Class 11 student of the Delhi Public School in Ghaziabad, had shot into the limelight in September 2008, when she swam non-stop for nearly 38 km at the age of eight.(Representative photo)

Police said Saira Sirohi’s sister found her body hanging by a shawl from a ventilator located above a door in her room. The girl had woken up for a glass of water around 1.30 am when she made the discovery.

“We have sent the body for a post-mortem examination. We did not find a suicide note in the house during the initial search,” said Ashok Shishodia, SHO of the Kavi Nagar police station.

As Sirohi’s parents were still in a state of shock, they were not in a position to throw light on the possible reasons for her taking the extreme step, he added.

The victim, a Class 11 student of the Delhi Public School in Ghaziabad, had shot into the limelight in September 2008, when she swam non-stop for nearly 38 km at the age of eight.

Sirohi had even drawn praise from Asian Games silver medallist Khazan Singh for this achievement. “Nearly 40 km in a day is incredible. Even when I was training for the Olympics, I never swam more than five hours day – and that too in two shifts. Even the distance I covered was never more than 20 km,” Singh had said.

Sirohi had three elder sisters, two of whom were married.

“All of us are shocked because she (Sirohi) had very strong willpower. She never got bogged down. She has won nearly 200 medals at various events since childhood. When she spoke to me on Sunday evening, she sounded normal enough. She said she will be concentrating on her studies for her upcoming examinations,” said her coach Raju Chaudhary.