This story is from August 25, 2020

Sambalpur girl, 10, earns junior scuba diving licence

At an age when most children her age indulged in games and activities, Dubai-based 10-year-old Tisya Panigrahi was exploring the depths of the ocean, trying to fathom its vastness and the secrets it offered.
Sambalpur girl, 10, earns junior scuba diving licence
The Grade 4 student of Raffles World Academy School in Dubai recently dived into the Gulf of Oman
SAMBALPUR: At an age when most children her age indulged in games and activities, Dubai-based 10-year-old Tisya Panigrahi was exploring the depths of the ocean, trying to fathom its vastness and the secrets it offered.
This Sambalpur girl’s desire to dive deep helped her earn the junior open water scuba diver’s licence from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the world’s largest scuba diving training and certification organization.

This Grade 4 student of Raffles World Academy School in Dubai (she will be in Grade 5 in September) recently dived into the Gulf of Oman, off Fujairah, on the east coast of UAE, to earn her stripes. Tisya started taking interest in scuba diving when she accompanied her father, Priyadarshee Panigrahi, who himself is a certified PADI open water diver, during his dives.
“It is my father who got me interested in diving. I always wanted to join him in his underwater exploits. However, it was my mother who enrolled me in a swimming class and took an active interest in my training. Acquiring the junior open water diver’s licence is a dream come true,” said Tisya. Her certification process involved a 4-day training programme which consisted of classroom sessions, training in the swimming pool and finally four dives in the open sea. To be eligible for this training, she also had to pass a basic endurance test, which involved a 200-metre swim and staying afloat for 10 minutes. “Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Dubai and the UAE governments have been kind enough to allow scuba diving with proper measures and maintaining social distancing,” said Tisya’s father, Priyadarshi. He said he is extremely delighted for Tisya.
Founded in 1966 in Illinois, USA, PADI has more than 6,600 dive centres and resorts and 1,37,000 professionals who have issued more than 27 million certifications around the world.
(As told by noted diver Sabir Bux)
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