Most Kiwis board a Cook Strait ferry and settle in for roughly three-and-a-half hours between the North and South Islands. Satendra Singh Lohiya from India just chose the colder option, becoming the first Asian para swimmer to cover that same route by stroke.

Lohiya completed the feat on February 12 in nine hours and 22 minutes, swimming across the two islands from the narrowest point of Cook Strait, a nearly 22‑kilometre-long channel where tidal surges, cliff-born winds and near-freezing water can turn a straight line into a diagonal slog. 

“It was a very difficult swim and the water was cold, but I stayed positive and I knew I was going to make it” says Lohiya, who has been awarded with one of India's top civilian honours, the Padma Shri. "At one point, I was surrounded by a bloom of jellyfish. It felt like they were swimming with me."

Before Lohiya made his way back to India he made a quick stop in Auckland. The New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA) organised a gathering at Diversity Centre in Papatoetoe as tribute to Lohiya.

"We also thought it was a good oppurtunity to share his bravery and to inspire people in our community," says NZICA president Veer Khar. A group of people from the community gathered to listen to the swimmer's story, to ask him question and to admire his bravery. 

Lohiya’s grit was forged far from New Zealand. Born in 1987 in a village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, he lost 70 per cent function in both legs after childhood diarrhea and inadequate treatment. He clung to river swims until coach Dr. Virendra Kumar Dabas at Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior, spotted his talent, drilled him for two years and sent him to the 2009 National Paralympic Swimming Championship in Kolkata, where he won freestyle bronze.

Open water soon became his signature. In 2017, he wrapped a 33‑kilometre Arabian Sea circuit from Prongs Reef Lighthouse to Elephanta Island off Mumbai. In 2018, he led an Indian para relay across the English Channel in 12 hours 26 minutes, a feat recorded in the Limca and India Books of Records.

The Catalina Channel relay in California (36 km, 2019), a solo North Channel crossing in Northern Ireland (36 km, 2022) and a two-way 72‑kilometre English Channel relay in 2023 added to his legend, while 11 National Paralympic Swimming Championships yielded 23 medals alongside four medals from three international paralympic meets.

Beyond the water, Lohiya rode a tri-wheel hand bike 4,320 kilometres from Kanyakumari to Srinagar in 19 days for his 'Divyang Empowerment Khelo Yatra', urging wider para-sport access. The Madhya Pradesh Election Commission even tapped him as a voter-awareness brand ambassador.