KANCHANMALA Pande, 2017 world champion, has made a comeback with a bang after COVID and maternity break by winning three gold medals in National Para Swimming Championship held from March 24-27, 2022 at Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Kanchanmala bagged gold in 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke in S-11 women events. With this, she also achieved MQS for forthcoming Para Asian Games.

Kanchanmala won gold medal in 200m individual medley in S– 11 category at the Mexico City World Championship in 2017. She has been participating in various international events including Asian Para Games (2018), three World Championships consecutively (2015, 2017 and 2019), Para Swimming World Series (2019) etc. and has been bringing laurels to the country.

Kanchanmala had to begin it all over again as she qualified for the National Para Swimming Championship after a long break not only due to COVID lock down but also due to her maternity.

She had to train in the open lake due to closure of swimming pools (till recently) and it is nothing short of a miracle for a totally blind person to do so, opines her husband Vinod Deshmukh who has been assisting her including “tapping” at the turns in the pool as a blind swimmer requires tactile cues.

Kanchanmala has thanked her coaches Dr Pravin Lamkhade and ASCA Level-5 coach Vishal Chandurkar, her fitness trainer Sachin Deshmukh along with Mohan Nahatkar and Mangesh Gadre of the Aqua Sports Club Nagpur of which she is the active swimming member for the last six years.

She is working as Class-I Officer in the Reserve Bank of India and the bank has placed her in the zone of excellence for sports.