Los Angeles, Sept. 30 -- A 17-year-old girl, Jiya Rai, with autism spectrum disorder, became the first female para-swimmer to successfully swim solo across the Catalina Channel near Los Angeles, USA.

Jiya covered a distance of 34 km in 15 hours, 1 minute and 43 seconds, starting on midnight on September 25 from Catalina Island, and finished at the coast of California near San Pedro on September 26. She is the daughter of Madan Rai, MC-at-Arms II of the Indian Navy and has dedicated this swim to Autism awareness.

Jiya Rai has won international acclaim for her swimming prowess, including a world record for her swim across the English Channel in 2024 and the Palk Strait in 2022. She is a recipient of the World Open Water Swimming Associati...