Everyone should have Speedo suit

Tag : Suit Fabric
NEW DELHI, July 20: Rehan Poncha cannot wait to slip into his Speedo LZR Racer, toutedas world's fastest swimming suit, but the Olympic-bound swimmerfeels the NASA-developed suit should be made available to all inorder to ensure a level playing field in Beijing.

As many as 38 records have been shattered since LZR Racer hit themarket in February and opinion is divided on whether it is fair touse the suit made of a light fabric with polyurethane panels toreduce the drag.

Poncha says innovations like LZR Racer are good for the sport butonly if all the swimmers have an access to them so that no one hasan unfair advantage.

"I feel that the suit is great, but the only thing is that itshould be made available to all the athletes to make it a levelplaying field," Poncha, who has qualified for Beijing Olympics inthe 200m butterfly event, said.

The 25-year-old could not lay his hands on the expensive suitduring the Olympic qualifiers due to lack of sponsors but has beenassured of one in Beijing.

"I did try to obtain the suit before my trials but did not get one.After qualifying, I have been told by Speedo that they will begiving me a suit in Beijing," he said.

Of the four Indian swimmers who have qualified for Beijing, onlyteen sensation Virdhawal Khade had the suit during the qualifiers.Upset at not getting it during qualifiers, Poncha said had he notmade the cut for Beijing, he would have regretted not having thesuit.

"It's all well and good that I have qualified already but what if Ihadn't? Then it would always have been at the back of my mind thatmaybe if I had the suit I could have gone faster," he said.

The Bangalore-lad, who broke a 22-year-old national record en routeto his qualification, revealed he might have ended up a tennisplayer or a Formula One driver had the doctor not recommendedswimming as a remedy for his nagging bouts of cold and cough.

"I started swimming by default. When I was very young, I used toget regular bronchitis, cough and cold and fever, so the doctoradvised my parents to initiate me into swimming," he said.

"In my first competition I came second last. That upset me a lot soI had to keep swimming till I won. That's how I started swimming.Fifteen years down the line I have not changed a bit," he revealed.

He may have remained the same but Indian swimming has clearlystarted changing for the better now and for the first time, as manyas four swimmers would represent the country in Beijing.

According to Poncha, with a little financial backing, the countrycan produce world-class swimmers.

"There is nothing that draws a child to this sport other than thelove for swimming if he or she has it. There may be a million kidsin India more talented than me but unfortunately they don't havethe means to continue in this sport.

"I am just one of the lucky few who can afford to pursue my dream.Hopefully with our performances getting better some money will comeinto swimming and we will have more kids wanting to take to thesport," he said.