Starting young in competitive swimming, Subba learnt the hard way that everything is not rainbows and butterflies even after you’ve learnt the basics of swimming.
When a 15 year-old Anubhav Subba, first accompanied his friends for a casual swim in the pool, he hadn’t contemplated that he would be winning swimming championships in the South Asian Games. Approximately seven years after that, Subba won the bronze medal for 4x100m freestyle relay along with Sirish Gurung, Manish Chitrakar, and Shuvam Shreatha, breaking the national record for the same event.
Starting young in competitive swimming, Subba learnt the hard way that everything is not rainbows and butterflies even after you’ve learnt the basics of swimming. As he trained at the Dasrath Rangashala under Coach Ratna Shrestha, he learnt that performing as a competitive swimmer warranted intensive training even after mastering the basics. So, he started training with the national team at Satdobato. But all of this training finally came into fruition when he won the 25-meter backstroke race at the 1st Inter-rotary Swimming Championship.
National Swimming competition in private swimming pool
“It just sort of happened,” he says, when asked about what drew him to competitive swimming. “I had always loved swimming with my friends. And because I loved the sport, I wanted to learn more, so I started training. This pulled me in, and as I learnt new things that intrigued me--from technique to the skill--I decided to dive deeper. After that, there was no looking back,” he shared.
When Subba first started training, he didn’t like following nutritional diets and hated waking up in the mornings. But the bigger issue arose when his training started affecting his academics; because of the grueling training that he had to go through every day, he would usually end up sleeping in class.
But no matter the cost, Subba stayed strong in his dedication to the field. He says he’s inspired by Nepali swimmer Sirish Gurung, world champion Michael Phelps, and backstroke champion Ryan Lachte. But apart from these superstar swimmers, he also draws inspiration from Chief Coach Ongden Lama.
But Subba says that there is a definite lack of support for athletes in our country and this is why they can’t give it their all because even when they do, they won’t have access to proper support and required equipment for training. “We want to better represent our country in the international arena but without proper training, that becomes increasingly harder to do,” says Subba when asked what he expected from the Nepal Swimming Association (NSA).
Currently on break after his SEE examination, Subba plans to study science in the future, although he wants to make a career out of swimming. Because of this dedication to the craft, competitive swimming is more about self-improvement than winning medals for him. Even today, his driving force would be to beat his own personal record. It is with these smaller steps that Subba dreams of reaching the Olympics one day.
“Whatever you do you, do it for yourself,” he says with the utmost conviction. “That is what has been motivating me through all the trials and tribulations so far,” Subba says. He thinks that if one is sincere enough in their wishes, is prepared to pay the right price and is dedicated to it, their wishes will certainly come true.
