Shantipriya Ray Chowdhury

Medinipur’s Afreen Jabi, 21, is making waves as a long-distance swimmer. After conquering the English Channel and the Palk Strait, she is now preparing to take on the Catalina Channel off the coast of California.

Afreen Jabi is a resident of Medinipur town in West Midnapore. Her ancestral home, however, is in Chaupina village in the Kharagpur-II block of West Midnapore.

Today, Afreen is not merely a shining star of long-distance swimming in Medinipur or Bengal, but one of India’s promising open-water swimmers.

Afreen Jabi showing her medal

The young swimmer from West Midnapore has already made her mark internationally by completing crossings of the English Channel and the Palk Strait. She is now preparing to swim across the Catalina Channel in California, a challenge she is scheduled to undertake on September 22 this year.

Earlier, she successfully crossed the English Channel on July 29, 2025, and the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka, on May 9 this year.

Beginning of Journey

Before embarking on her international long-distance swimming journey, Afreen had already established herself through several achievements at the state and national levels.

Among her major accomplishments are medals in West Bengal’s age-group swimming competitions. She has won multiple medals at state-level age-group swimming championships and has also performed well in school-level swimming competitions.

Based on these impressive performances, she earned the opportunity to represent Bengal twice at the National Aquatic Championships. At the university level, she represented Vidyasagar University three times at the All-India Inter-University Aquatic Championships.

Afreen Jabi swimming

She has also participated in competitions organised by the National School Games Federation and the prestigious Khelo India programme, winning medals and achieving notable results.

Before stepping onto the international long-distance swimming stage, Afreen made her mark at the national level by securing second place among women in the world’s longest 81-km long-distance marathon swimming event held in the Ganga. She has also completed open-water swimming distances of 13 km, 21 km and 24 km.

Balancing Swimming and Education

Afreen has excelled in academics as well. She is currently studying Physical Education at Aligarh Muslim University. Earlier, she was a student of the Sociology Department at Medinipur College and represented Vidyasagar University in various swimming competitions.

Even after conquering the English Channel and the Palk Strait, the talented swimmer continues to pursue higher education along with her intensive coaching schedule.

Afreen Jabi after crossing a major international water chennal

Afreen’s journey towards sporting and academic success has not been easy. She has had to overcome numerous obstacles and continues to face them.

Coming from a modest middle-class family, Afreen is the daughter of transport businessman Sheikh Piar Ali. Meeting the expenses of his daughter’s education and swimming training has become increasingly difficult for him. Each international channel crossing can cost several lakh rupees, and arranging the funds has now become one of the family’s biggest challenges.

Piar Ali says, “On one hand, I have to ensure that my daughter continues her regular training, and on the other, I have to arrange the money for it. Managing such expenses from my small business is becoming increasingly difficult. Whatever financial support we receive from different sources is not enough. We seek some assistance from the government in this regard. I also appeal to kind-hearted people to come forward and help, so that my daughter can continue her journey towards conquering the ‘seven seas’ even while living in a city like Medinipur.”

Afreen’s father, Sheikh Piar Ali, and mother, Sabina Parvin, have continued to support her swimming journey in every possible way.

Afreen Jabi,

Afreen says that, much like the character Khiddah from the film Koni, her father Piar has been her guiding force. Even when she faces powerful currents, he continues to cheer her on with the words: “Fight Jabi, Fight!”

Dreaming of Conquering the Seven Seas

Afreen Jabi, who has become a source of pride for Bengal and India and has also been recognised as an “Election Icon” of West Midnapore, says crossing the Catalina Channel in the United States is her next major goal after conquering the English Channel and the Palk Strait.

However, her ultimate ambition is much bigger.

“My ultimate goal in life is to cross the world’s seven toughest channels or straits and create a world record by conquering the ‘seven seas’,” she says.

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For now, the young open-water swimmer is seeking everyone’s blessings and good wishes as she prepares for her next major challenge.