The way to win

"Rehan Poncha was the pick of the swimmers, winning nine gold, three silver and three bronze medals. He participated in 15 events and finished in the medal bracket in all of them. The Karnataka swimmer also accounted for five (actually eight) Games records. Such was his domination,” wrote S. Sabanayakan in Sportstar, February 24, ’07, reporting on 20-year-old Poncha’s spectacular success at the 33rd National Games in Guwahati in Assam in February 2007. His tally of 15 medals, the highest number in any sport from amongst over 10,000 athletes, won for Poncha the title of Overall Best Male Athlete at the Games, a distinction he has achieved for the second year in succession.

This was one meet to which Poncha had almost decided not to go! "I had a soft tissue injury in my foot. I went through 10 days of physiotherapy before the Games. This, along with the fact that ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) was causing trouble in Assam, was the reason I wanted to miss the Games. My foot was getting better toward the date of travel and when ULFA finally gave a guarantee that it would not boycott the Games, I spoke to my coach whether I should go or not… This was probably the worst I had ever prepared for a meet. Considering all this I’m very happy with my performance (swimming 15 events in six days),” Poncha stated in an email response to Parsiana’s queries. "I think I performed well mainly because of the training I had done for the Doha Asian Games in December ’06 where I didn’t do well at all…but it finally paid off.”

Shortly thereafter in March, Poncha participated in the fiercely competitive FINA World Swimming Championships at Melbourne where the likes of Michael Phelps and Pieter van den Hoogenband hogged the headlines. "This meet was completely different from the National Games since I was swimming five events and it mattered I excel in all five,” Poncha asserts. "I started the meet off with a Best Indian performance and a personal best in the 400m freestyle. I created three Best Indian performances. This was probably the best swim meet I have ever had in terms of my own improvement. Swimming with such a fast field motivates me all the time. I was not intimidated at all but excited to be with the world’s best. I used the opportunity to learn a lot from these swimmers, watching them swim their warm-ups and races… which I am incorporating in my training for summer now.” Poncha believes that breaking the time barrier in the 200m butterfly, which he had been unable to do for three years, was probably the happiest moment of his career.

Playing an important part in Rehan’s success are his parents Jehangir and Shirin who relocated to Bangalore from Bombay so that their son could avail of the best coaching facilities. With a phenomenal 530 swimming medals in his kitty so far, Rehan is a student at the Shree Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College in Bangalore, doing psychology and journalism. "My next immediate goal is to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and I have a year-and-a half to do it,” says the focused young man.