Brojen Das - Misplaced Pages

Indian swimmer

Brojen Das

Born	(1927-12-09)9 December 1927 Bikrampur, Bengal, British India (now Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Died	1 June 1998(1998-06-01) (aged 70) Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Nationality	British India (1927-1947) Pakistan (1947-1971) Bangladesh (1971-1998)
Education	BA
Alma mater	KL Jubilee High School Vidyasagar College
Occupation	Athlete
Awards	Independence Day Award

Brojen Das (Bengali: ব্রজেন দাস; 9 December 1927 – 1 June 1998) was a Bangladeshi (East Pakistan) swimmer, who was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel, and the first person to cross it six times.

Early life and education

Brojen after his 5th crossing of the English Channel

Brojen was born in the Kuchiamora village of Bikrampur, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Munshiganj, Bangladesh). His father was Harendra Kumar Das. He completed the matriculation exam in 1946 from K. L. Jubilee High School (now K. L. Jubilee High School & College). He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Vidyasagar College in Calcutta.

Swimming

Brojen meeting Queen Elizabeth after his channel crossing (1961)

Since boyhood Brojen practised swimming in Buriganga River. After his own initiative, the East Pakistan Sports Federation introduced an annual swimming competition in Dhaka in 1953. He was invited to take part in the English Channel Swimming Competition in 1958. As a part of his training he swam in Shitalakshya River, in lower Meghna River and a distance of 46 miles starting from Narayanganj to Chandpur. Prior to the competition, he also swam in the Mediterranean Sea from Capri to Naples.

At midnight on 18 August 1958, Brojen began swimming to cross the English Channel along with other competitors from 23 countries. He completed the course on the next day after noon.

Brojen crossed the English Channel a total of 6 times from 1958 to 1961.

Achievements

Local

Champion in 100-meter freestyle swimming competition in West Bengal in 1952.
Champion in East Pakistan in 100, 200, 400 & 1500 meter freestyle swimming in 1953–1956.
Champion in Pakistan in 100 & 400-meter freestyle swimming in 1955.

International

Italy, July 1958, winner (placed 3rd) in the Capri Island to Naples 33-kilometer-long-distance swimming competition.
England, August 1958, secured first position among the male competitors in the Billy Butlin's Channel Crossing Swimming Competition; 39 competitors from 23 nations participated in the competition.
England, August 1959, successfully completed the Channel Crossing Swimming Competition from France to England.
England, September 1959, successfully completed the Channel Swim from England to France.
England, August 1960, successfully completed the Channel Swim from France to England.
England, September 1961, crossed the Channel once again from France to England.
England, September 1961, obtained the world record for the fastest swim across the English Channel from France to England.

Awards

1956: Awarded by Dhaka University
1959: Pride of Performance award by the Pakistan government.
1965: Induction into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame
1986: Letona Trophy, i.e. King of the Channel from the Channel Swimming Association of the United Kingdom
1976: National Sports Award, Bangladesh
Atish Dipankar Medal
Gold Medal by Kazi Mahabubullah Trust and Jahanara Jana Kalyan Trust
1999: Independence Day Award, Bangladesh (posthumous)

Death

Brojen was detected to have cancer in June 1997. He went to Calcutta, India, for treatment, and died there on 1 June 1998. His funeral was held at Postagola cremation site in Dhaka on 3 June 1998.

References

^ Rahman, S M Mahfuzur (2012). "Das, Brojen". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
"The first Asian swimmer crosses the English Channel in 1958". Bangladesh Post. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
"Legless Vet Forgot About Goal, Jesus". The Bee. Danville, Virginia. Associated Press. 6 September 1971. p. 4-B. Retrieved 29 November 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Website of Brojen Das, maintained by his family". Retrieved 26 November 2012.
Pakistan Sports Board Archived 3 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine Awards: Swimming Retrieved 5 July 2010
Kings of the Channel, Letona Trophy, Channel Swimming Association.
^ "His Fight Against Cancer". Retrieved 26 November 2012.
Darpan, Pratiyogita (August 1998). "Death". Competition Science Vision. p. 792.

External links

Website on Brojen Das, maintained by his family
Farhana Haider and Sanghita Pal (3 June 2016). Sporting Witness: Bangladesh's Channel Swimmer Hero (Radio broadcast). BBC World Service.

v t e Pride of Performance for Sports
1950s	Hashim Khan (1958) Hawaldar Abdul Khaliq (1958) Abdul Hafeez Kardar (1958) Fazal Mehmood (1958) Subedar Muhammad Iqbal (1959) Hanif Mohammad (1959)
1960s	Syed Abdus Samad (1960) Major Abdul Hamid (1960) Roshan Khan (1960) Brojen Das (1960) Khawaja Iftikhar Ahmed (1960) The Great Gama (1960) Captain Raja Javed Akhtar Khan (1961) Azam Khan (1961) Bholu Pahalwan (1962) Naseer Bunda (1962) Hafiz Rashid (1962) Saeed Ahmed (1962) Brigadier M.A. Baig (1962) Abbas Mirza (1963) Manzoor Hussain Aatif (1963) Mushtaq Muhammad (1963) Dafadar Mubarak Shah (1963) Khundker Nasim Ahmed (1964) Jamadar Ghulam Raziq (1964) Subedar Muhammad Nawaz (1966) Imtiaz Ahmad (1966) Sheikh Shaheb Ali (1966) Aslam Pahalwan (1967) Asif Iqbal (1968) Muhammad Bashir (1968) Khalid Mahmood Hussain (1968) Tariq Aziz (1968) Muhammad Asad Malik (1969) Moideen Kutty (1969) Mohammad Akhtar (1969)
1970s	Lala Abdul Rashid (1970) Ahmed Riazuddin (1970) Jehangir Ahmed Butt (1970) Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool (1970) Faiz Muhammad (1970) Major Mohammad Aslam Khan (1970) Fazal Rehman (1971) Tanvir Dar (1971) Riaz Ahmed (1971) Nabi Ahmed Kalat (1971) Zaheer Abbas (1971)
1980s	Islahuddin Siddique (1982) Jahangir Khan (1982) Byram D. Avari (1982) Nazir Ahmed Sabir (1982) Ashraf Aman (1982) Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1983) Akhtar Rasool (1983) Samiullah Khan (1983) Manzoor Hussain Junior (1984) Hasan Sardar (1984) Kaleemullah Khan (1984) Hanif Khan (1984) Qamar Zaman (1984) Major Mohammad Sher Khan (1985) Javed Miandad (1986) Zaheer Abbas (1986) Captain Abdul Jabbar Bhatti (1986) Mohammad Ali (1986) Abdul Majeed Maruwala (1987) Shah Jehan (1988) Zia Mahmood (1988) Intikhab Alam (1988) Abdul Qadir (1988) Nasir Ali (1988) Mudassar Nazar (1989)
1990s	Honorary Lieutenant Mohammad Younis (1990) Arif Khan (1990) Nazo Anwar Miandad (1990) Mohammad Shehnaz Sheikh (1990) Wasim Akram (1992) Shahbaz Ahmed (1992) Ghulam Abbas (1992) Taimur Hasan (1992) Shahid Ali Khan (1992) Qazi Muhibur Rehman (1993) Rajab Shah (1993) Mohammad Yousuf (1994) Mohibullah Khan Junior (1994) Khwaja Mohammad Junaid (1994) Abdul Rashid (1994) Muhammad Saeed Khan (1994) Mansoor Ahmed (1994) Ahmed Alam (1994) Tahir Zaman (1994) Muhammad Shahbaz (1994) Muhammad Shafqat (1994) Irfan Mehmood (1994) Naveed Alam (1994) Asif Bajwa (1994) Muhammad Danish Kaleem (1994) Muhammad Usman (1994) Kamran Ashraf (1994) Rahim Khan (1994) Rana Mujahid Ali (1994) Waseem Feroze (1994) Aliya Rasheed (1995) Fareed Sehrai (1995) Waqar Younis (1995) Ali Nawaz Baloch (1995) Mohammad Sarwar (1995) Asghar Ali Changezi (1996) Sardar Azmarai Javaid Hissam el-Effendi (1996)* Ghulam Noorani Khan (1996) Munawwar uz Zaman (1997)
2000s	Saeed Anwar (2000) Haider Ali (2003) Rozi Ali (2003) Mohammad Irfan Islam (2003) Grand Master Muhammad Ashraf Tai (2004) Zakir Hussain Syed (2004) Mehrullah Lassi (2004) Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (2005) Nida Waseem (2008) Zubair Ahmed Hundal (2008) Shahid Rehman (2008) Umer Khan Achakzai (2009)
2010s	Atta Muhammad Kakar (2010) Khawaja Zakauddin (2010) Lal Saeed (2010) Shahid Khan Afridi (2010) Younis Khan (2010) Aleem Dar (2011) Goshpi Avari (2011) Naseem Hameed (2011) Shahid Pervaiz Butt (2011) Qasim Zia (2011) Mohammad Yousuf (2012) Maria Toorpakai Wazir (2013) Misbah-ul-Haq (2014) Zeeshan Abbasi (2014) Hanif Khan (2014) Muhammad Asif (2015) Amir Iqbal Khan (2015) Samina Baig (2015) Muhammad Waseem (2017) Alamgir Anwar Shaikh (2017)

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