Quietly Confident

With a string of national records under his belt, swimmingsensation Rehan Poncha is now determined to make a mark for himself at theinternational stage and qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The 16-year-old Karnataka swimmer sizzled in the poolat the Junior National Aquatics Championships, which concluded in the Capitalyesterday, grabbing the headlines with a cent per cent performance -- winninggold in the all the events he competed in and with a record in all his four individual events.

His performance has raised hopes that India may havefinally found a swimmer of class who will create ripples in internationalevents.

But the starlet is hardly allowing himself to getaffected by the hype around him and is quietly determined to reach the Olympicqualifying mark at the World Championships in Barcelona beginning on July 22.

"I touched 2 minutes 9 seconds in my pet 200mbutterfly event in the Nationals which is just five seconds more than thequalifying mark. I am sure of reaching the mark with some more practice andtraining," Poncha said.

"I am already doing 10 km a day and practising inthree sessions. I am sure my hard work will yield positive results," hesaid.

Poncha, fresh from a training stint in Australia whichboasts of one of the best swimming programmes in the world, attributes hisrecent success to his stay Down Under.

"They inculcate the right attitude in you. It isthis attitude which separates the champion Australian swimmers and us,"said the athletic swimmer.

Poncha said he had finished fifth in the Australian Nationals, a result which heconsidered was satisfactory.

"It is encouraging to know that I am not too farbehind quality international swimmers. The second best swimmer in Australia is17 and is clocking 2:04. At 16, I think I stand a fair chance of catching upwith this mark," Poncha said.

Poncha trained under Bernei Mulroi in Australia and iskeen to go back once again to finetune his skills further.

"But that costs a lot of money. I was lucky tohave got a scholarship from the Sports Authority of India but I would need more suchhelp if I were to go there again for a training programme," said theyoungster.

After the Barcelona championship, Poncha will be seenin action in Asian Age-Group Championship in China in August and the Afro-AsianGames in Hyderabad in October.

"These couple of meets are also important as Iwill get a chance to rub shoulders with some of the big names in a strongfield," he said.

Poncha admitted he was not used to so much attentionfrom the media which has been tracking him ever since his exceptionalperformance in the 30th edition of the Junior Nationals.

"I had come to the Nationals to see where I stoodexactly and was looking at it as a preparatory meet. But my performance hereturned out to be equal to the best ever Indian performance.

"I am also quite happy to have equalled JAbhijit's record in 400m individual medley which he set way back in 1995 at the SAFGames," he said while thanking his coach Nihar Ameen and his parents fortheir support and encouragement.

PTI