He watched ‘Three Idiots’ a couple of times. He was highly inspired by Amir Khan’s one dialogue in the movie, ‘Do not run for result. Rather try to master the excellence on the subject.’ That philosophy might have been the driving force behind his pursuit of excellence, leading him to win Gold in the Miami International Championship.

Army's subject is Open Water swimming (10km and 5km). He is the only Open Water swimmer from India to have won a gold medal in an international competition in Miami last year and a bronze medal in Mexico El Cruce Championship in 10 kilometers.  

Army has been training at the World Aquatics open water development centre in Miami, Florida as part of the FINA Aquatics Scholarship Program for last one year. Significantly, his gold in Miami was appreciated by the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and it could earn an Olympic quota in the next Olympics.

The 23-year-old swimmer did not sound much elated even after hearing about the great possibility! “I want to reach the highest level of swimming where my selection for any major international competition becomes unquestionable,” explained Army. 

Despite being the son of a bank employee father from Serampore, West Bengal Army's journey was not easy initially. His house-maker mother Sima Pal went through a severe financial crisis to encourage his son to swimming, mortgage their house, selling gold ornaments. 

In a bid to reduce fat, Army was admitted to a local swimming club before switching over to Rishra Swimming Club. Then, after passing a selection trial Army was admitted to Sports Authority of India (SAI) Kolkata. 

But his stint with the SAI, Kolkata did not suit him as he became a victim of ragging during his hostel life at SAI! He switched over to SAI Delhi but there also he was deprived of justice on a couple of occasions in the pool which forced the Army to suffer from depression! 

"I saw the biopic of Michael Phelps and it helped me a lot to bounce back psychologically. I learned to control emotion and set focus on my swimming," Army revealed.

Glenmark Aquatic Foundation selected Army for its performance-enhancing centre in Bangalore. Army added, “I finished fourth in 1500 meter freestyle, 800 meter freestyle and 400 meter freestyle in the 2016 national championship and Glenmark Aquatic Foundation selected me based on my performance in the nationals." 

Army is highly indebted to Bhushan Kumar, the coach of Glenmark Aquatic Foundation, Bangalore. "He was the man who insisted me to start swimming in the Open Water. He was the man whose initiative took me to FINA's Azuri Florida Academy on a two-year scholarship, in Miami. Bhushan sir's contribution is unforgettable," revealed Army.

Army explained, “State-of-the-art academy has helped me a lot to improve the standard. The pollution-free air, the weather, the training method, and the psychological classes have been excellent in the academy. Additionally, swimmers like us also get the opportunity to make interact with the world's top swimmers to improve their standard."

Army’s participation in the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand was a bizarre experience. He was supposed to take part in a competition in Hong Kong. But he could not participate as his visa could not be made ready for the trip. Amidst the situation, he decided to come back. 

Before coming back to India Army made an informal request to SFI for some financial assistance so that his expensive flight fare from Florida to Kolkata can get some back-up. 

SFI instead, gave him a wild card entry for the National Games to participate in 800 and 1500 meters! 

Army came to know about his wild card entry for the National Games around one-and-half weeks before he returned home in February, at a time when training had already stopped. The result was expected. Army whose best timing in the 1500 meters so far is 16. 40 seconds so far in the 1500 meters and 8.45 seconds in the 800 meters had to return from National Games empty-handed. 

Army now is aiming for a medal in the forthcoming Open Water World Championship to be held in June in Hong Kong.