Twelve-year-old Tisya Panigrahi from Sambalpur has become Odisha’s youngest junior advanced open water scuba diver as she dived 70 feet into the Gulf of Oman on June 8, her birthday, and June 9.
As the Advanced Licence can be attempted only after attaining the age of 12 years, Tisya went for the same on her birthday by diving in the sea at Martini Rock dive site on the east coast of UAE. She was accompanied by her father Priyadarshee Panigrahi, who himself is a certified scuba diver since 2012.
On completion of five dives, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) handed over the Junior Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver licence to Tisya.
The course began with eLearning through interactive lessons. A deep dive below 18 meters/60 feet and an underwater navigation dive were compulsory. Moreover, Tisya had to choose three more dives from an available list of specialty dives. Spending over three hours underwater during the five dives, she completed her course in two days at the Al Boom Diving, UAE’s largest diving school at Al Aqah, Fujairah.
Tisya said, “Being a junior open water diver, I was allowed to dive up to 12 meters/40 feet. However, I was very keen to explore further and dive like adults, who could dive up to 18 meters/60 feet. I was looking forward to turning 12-year-old so that I could do the junior advanced course and dive up to 21 meters/70 feet.”
Her father Priyadarshee said, “It is a great feeling to dive with her and explore the underwater world together.”
Tisya became Odisha’s youngest scuba diver in 2020 when she obtained her PADI Junior Open Water Scuba Diver licence at the age of 10.
Born to Priyadarshee Panigrahi and Soumitri Nanda, Tisya is the granddaughter of Sriballav Panigrahi, who was a Cabinet Minister and three-time Lok Sabha member. She also happens to be the granddaughter of former Sambalpur MLA Dr Raseswari Panigrahi.