An Indian teenage swimming champion allegedly committed suicide in her house in India on Monday due to academic pressure.
Saira Sirohi was training to represent India in the Olympics. According to reports in Indian media, Saira was a reigning 50 metre breast stroke champion of the CBSE National Games.
At the age of 8, she had swum non-stop for 15 hours covering a distance of 38 km in her school’s swimming pool.
Source: Supplied
But it was the academic pressure that she couldn’t deal with. Newspaper reports have suggested that Saira had missed her half-yearly exam as she was participating in a championship. Saira was to reappear for these exams and feared that she would fail. However, the school principal has denied putting any pressure on the girl.
Her father told the local media that he had noticed nothing untoward on Sunday night before they retired for the day. Next day early morning, they found their elder daughter hanging on a cloth in her room. No suicide note was recovered from the room.
Saira’s father - Jaideep was a former constable with UP police. He had taken voluntary retirement two years ago to help his daughter realise her dream of representing India in the Olympics.
