Anshul K Kothari won two gold, two silver and a bronze medal, and also set a new meet record in the 4x50m medley relay while representing Gujarat at the 70th National Aquatic Championships held earlier this month at Ranchi. While three of the medals were for individual events, two came in relays. Anshul is the son of Sushamaben and Ketanbhai Rasiklal Kothari.

As part of the Gujarat swimming team, Anshul won the gold medal and set a national record in 4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay event with the timing of 01:53.42. He also won a gold medal in 50m Butterfly with the timing of 00:24.93, silver medal in 100m Freestyle with the timing of 00:51.94, silver medal in 50m Freestyle with the timing of 00:23.31, and bronze medal in 4x50m mixed freestyle relay event.

Last month, Anshul won the Best Male Swimmer Trophy at the 58th Gujarat State Aquatic Championships held at the Gujarat Vidyapith Swimming Pool at Ahmedabad in August. He won three gold medals and two silver medals at the meet. Anshul is the son of Sushamaben and Ketanbhai Rasiklal Kothari.

While winning gold medals in the 50m - Butterfly (Senior Men), 100m - Freestyle (Senior Men) and 50m - Freestyle (Senior Men) at the state meet, Anshul established new state records for the fastest times in each. All three records had been set by Anshul himself in 2013. During the last couple of years, Anshul had not been able to take part in the state championships as he was busy with preparations for the Asian Games and Asian Championships.

Speaking to Ahmedabad Mirror shortly after his success in the state level competition, Anshul, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics, said, “It surely hurts to miss the qualifying by a whisker. I gave my best, but fell short. However, I am also confident that I can do well.” He also confirmed that he was “working hard” with Tokyo 2020 as a target.

Now a computer engineer in Surat, Anshul has been representing the country and winning medals at national events ever since he was in college. He won his first international medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay event at the Asian age group swimming championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2011 and has represented the country in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games as well.