বাংলা 
English 
Kanai Lal Sharma (born 7 November 1930, died 19 August 2019) was born in the village of Shaldaha in the Hatsh Haripur union of Kushtia. His father's name was the late Abhimanyu Sharma. Recalling the days bound up with the successes he left behind, this veteran swimmer says: he was then five or six years old. One day his father was returning home by boat across the Gorai river. In a storm the boat sank in mid-river. Many people died. By great fortune Kanai Lal Sharma's father Abhimanyu Sharma survived.
Hearing that a boat had sunk in the river, cries of wailing rose on all sides. Carrying Kanai Lal in her arms, his maternal grandmother came to the river ghat. All around was the weeping of death. After a long while Abhimanyu Sharma arrived. His mother was still waiting for him at the ghat. Abhimanyu took Kanai Lal Sharma in his arms from his mother. He told her: Mother, let Kanai learn to swim well. His first lessons in swimming came from his father. A few days later Kanai Lal Sharma's mother, Shamitra Bela, died of cholera. In 1944 Kanai was admitted to the old Kushtia M.E. School. His first teacher was Jhumur Pandit. In his studies his guardian was Didar Box Mondal of the same locality. Alongside his studies Kanai Lal kept learning to swim. Kanai Lal suddenly travelled to India. At that time word went around that a 3-mile swimming competition was to be held in West Bengal from the Hooghly Bridge to the Naihati ferry ghat. Kanai Lal registered there and took part.
Kanai Lal took first place among 70 competitors, winning a gold medal. Thus began Kanai Lal Sharma's feats in swimming. Then in 1948, at poet Azizur Rahman's pond, swimmer Kanai Lal Sharma took first place in swimming among 25 competitors. The poet handed him the prize with his own hands and blessed him. Then in 1959, taking part in a 20-mile swimming competition organised by the Nowroz Club from the Hardinge Bridge to the Gorai Bridge, he finished first. On 14 August 1960, swimming from the Hardinge Bridge to the Gorai Bridge in an event organised by KDS, he finished first. Present to watch the swim on that occasion were the discerning, including Devi Prasad Chakrabarti (Kanu Babu), and students of various educational institutions. The same year, in a swim organised by Kushtia Government College, he swam from the Hardinge Bridge to Goalanda ghat. The organising committee included Dr. Tofazzal Haque, Dr. Nitya Babu and the college authorities headed by the principal. The ceremony was held four days after the competition, but, sad to say, no prize was given then; the college authorities said it would be given later. Because of the swim from the Hardinge Bridge to Goalanda ghat, arrangements were made to present the prize on the Mohini Mohan Bidyapith grounds in Kushtia.
There the Governor of East Pakistan, Azam Khan, came. As Kanai Lal was a student of the Government College, Azam Khan gave a grant to the Government College. Yet to this day the college has never made arrangements for his prize. Afterwards he went to Dhaka to learn swimming from Brojen Das. As the environment was not right, he moved on to Brojen Das's guru in Kolkata. In Kolkata Kanai Lal Sharma trained under Prafulla Ghosh, Brojo Gopal Pain and Pandit Mashayer, coaches of the Shailendra Memorial Club. After six months of learning to swim there, swimmer Kanai Lal Sharma surpassed the Indian record with a swim of 36 hours 4 minutes. The news was given wide coverage in various newspapers. Later, swimming there at different times, he finished first in 84 games. He came home. On coming home he swam up and down the Padma river from the Hardinge Bridge to Kushtia.
Then in 1962, on behalf of the Government College, he swam 52 miles. Swimming from Narayanganj to Chandpur he took third place. He then swam 40 km from Daudkandi to Narayanganj and took third place. After that he swam for 50 hours in Kushtia, 60 hours in Daulatpur and 60 hours in Khoksa. On the subject of setting a world record, Kanai Lal Sharma says: on 27 July 1971 he went to India. Kanai Lal surpassed the world record of 89 hours 32 minutes set by the American swimmer Mr. John Vissicament. From 23 August to 27 August 1971, at the historic Lal Dighi in aid of the Mukti Fouj (liberation forces), he swam for 90 hours 17 minutes and set a world record. That was the greatest achievement of his life.
Dr. Kanai Lal Sharma became a swimmer who had set a world record. Lieutenant General Aurora of India was present at the time. Barrister M. Amir Ul Islam, along with native and foreign guests, was present there. In 1980 Kanai Lal Sharma swam 350 km. He swam 350 km from Chowdala in Chapainawabganj to Goalanda. Then in 1997 he set a world record in the veterans' swimming competition. He swam 90 km from Bhuapur ghat beside the Jamuna Bridge to Aricha ghat. In this way Dr. Kanai Lal Sharma swam at different times of his life. From that small boyhood to this day, his heart still yearns for swimming.
Even in the last years of his life, his final dream was to set a world record once again by swimming the mighty Gorai river in the monsoon season. By profession Kanai Lal Sharma was a homoeopathic doctor. Kanai Lal Sharma lived at Mangalbaria on the outskirts of Kushtia. In his family life he was the father of 3 daughters and 2 sons. In the last years of his life he wished to regain his rights and dignity.
His wish was to make Bangladesh the land of the world's best veteran swimmer, and to preserve the dignity of the Bengali by establishing 27 August as World Aquatics Day in memory of 27 August 1971.
On 19 August 2019, at about 12 o'clock at night, he breathed his last from the effects of old age. Around 12 noon, state honour was paid to Kanai Lal Sharma at his own residence in the Mangalbaria area. Later, in the afternoon, his last rites were completed at the Mangalbaria cremation ground.
Kanai Lal Sharma wished for official recognition of "27 August as World Aquatics Day" and for his name to be entered in the Guinness Book. This is what Dr. Kanai Lal Sharma hoped for in his last days.
