Prasanta Karmakar

Prasanta Karmakar is an Indian Para swimmer. He was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. In 2003, Karmakar became the first disabled swimmer to represent India and win a medal at the World Swimming Championships in Argentina. Since then he has won over a dozen medals at the World events. He was the most decorated Indian swimmer at the 2009 IWAS World Games held in Bangalore winning 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medal. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, he won a bronze medal which was India’s first ever medal in aquatics at the Commonwealth Games. In the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou in China, he won a silver medal at 50m Freestyle and a bronze medals in the 200m Individual Medley. Prasanta also won a bronze in the 50m Backstroke in the S9 category at the 2010 International German Swimming Championships for Athletes with a Disability in Berlin, Germany. He is the Asian record holder in 50m Butterfly, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke and also is the National Record holder in four events – 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley. Prasanta Karmakar was honored with the prestigious Arjuna award for 2010 in the disabled sports category.