Meenakshi Pahuja
Meenakshi Pahuja (born 1978) is an Indian lecturer and marathon swimmer. After a successful career as a competitive swimmer, she became a teacher at Lady Shri Ram College, and later entered open water swimming. She received a 2018 Nari Shakti Puraskar award. Early life Meenakshi Pahuja was born in 1978 and grew up in Delhi, the oldest of three children. Her father V. K. Pahuja taught swimming at the Modern School. She first entered swimming competitions at the age of five and became a junior age group national champion in the 50 metres breaststroke before she turned nine. Career Representing India, Pahuja won a medal in the 400 metres Individual Medley at the 1996 Asia Pacific Age Group swimming championships in Pusan, South Korea. She was a three-time champion at the national games. In 2001, she retired from swimming and became a lecturer in Physical Training at the Lady Shri Ram College, part of the University of Delhi. In August 2006, Pahuja started marathon swimming. She participated in a 19-km event over the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river in Murshidabad, West Bengal. She then travelled to Switzerland to compete in the 2007 Lake Zürich Swim (26.4 km from Rapperswil to Zürich proper), where