At the age of four, Kothari was diagnosed with chronic flat foot condition. Many doctors said he would never be able to walk straight again and thus advised his parents for surgery but his parents took a non-conventional route and put him into sports and physical activities. Kothari started out with gymnastics and cricket. However,in 1999, he went for a summer camp of swimming and developed love towards water and thus his journey in swimming began.
Swimming career
Kothari is an accomplished swimmer having represented India at Commonwealth Games 2010, Asian Games 2010, Asian Games 2014 and Asian Games 2018. In 2010, he became the first swimmer from Gujarat to have represented India at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. He has taken part in 32 National Championships where he represents his home state Gujarat.
Kothari made his 3rd appearance at the Asian Games- a feat only matched by fellow elite swimmers Sandeep Sejwal, Virdhawal Khade and Aaron D'Souza, latter of two were also the part of team which created new Best Indian Performance in 4x100 m Freestyle relay. In the 4x100 m freestyle relay, Kothari swam the second leg and the team finished at 8th position in the finals creating a new Best Indian Performance in the morning heats.
9th Asian Age Group Championship, Uzbekistan 2017
Kothari won a silver medal in 50m butterfly event with the timing of 00:24.84, and a bronze medal in 50m freestyle event with the timing of 00:23.28. He also won a silver medal in 4x100 Mixed FS Relay event, and a bronze medal in 4X200m Relay FS event.
19th Commonwealth Games 2010
Kothari represented India at the Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi. He swam in 50,100 m freestyle and also 4 × 100 m freestyle events. He swam the third leg in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay which made history by qualifying for the finals for the first time in the history. The Indian 4 × 100 m freestyle relay quartet stood 6th in the finals.
He swam in 50 m freestyle, 50 m butterfly and also the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay events. He finished at 14th position in 50 m Butterfly and 20th position in 50 m Freestyle. In the 4x100 freestyle relay, Kothari swam the lead off leg and the team finished at 6th position in the finals.
Asian Age Group Championships
Kothari was part of the gold medal winning teams in 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay at Asian Age group Championships in both 2011 and 2015 editions.
At the 34th National Games 2011 held at Ranchi, Jharkhand. He was the only swimmer from Gujarat to win medals. His tally of individual medals was the highest among any sport in overall medal tally for Gujarat.
35th National Games 2015
He won 3 medals at the national games held at Trivandrum, Kerala which helped Gujarat to stand at 9th position in overall medal tally.
National Championships 2011
Kothari has been a consistent swimmer for his state Gujarat at the nationals and in the year 2011, he ended a two decade gold drought for his state Gujarat by finishing at 1st position in the 50 m freestyle event.
Asnhul won a gold medal in 4 × 100 m medley relay, silver medal in 50 m freestyle, and silver medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.
Open water Competitions
During the early stages of his career Kothari swam few open water competitions. In the year 2005, he swam at the 62nd World’s longest swimming competition and finished at 2nd position by completing the race in 10 hours 28mins.
70th Senior National Aquatics Championships 2016
Kothari, along with the Gujarat swimming team won the gold medal and set a national record in 4 x 50m Mixed Medley Relay event with the timing of 01:53.42. Kothari also won a gold medal in 50m Butterfly with the timing of 00:24.93, silver medal in 100m Freestyle with the timing of 00:51.94, silver medal in 50m Freestyle with the timing of 00:23.31, and bronze medal in 4x50m mixed freestyle relay event.
Personal life
Kothari completed his graduation in Computer Engineering from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat in 2012. During his years at SVNIT, Kothari continued his sport simultaneously making several appearances on the Indian Team. Kothari has also completed an MBA from the prestigious Indian School of Business, Hyderabad in 2018. At ISB, he continued to swim along with academics and on graduation he was awarded the "Torchbearer Award" for exceptional service, commitment and Leadership.
Awards
In 2014, Kothari was awarded Eklavya Award by the Government of Gujarat for his outstanding achievement in swimming in the years 2011–12.
In 2006, Kothari was awarded Sardar Patel Award by the Government of Gujarat for his outstanding achievement in swimming for the years 2003–04.
