The Hindu : It's an arduous climb but Nisha is undaunted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 01, 2003

Sport

Sport - Swimming

It's an arduous climb but Nisha is undaunted

By Kalyan Ashok

Photo: Sampath Kumar

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN: India's ace swimmer, Nisha Millet, who had a long break owing to an injury, is all set to make a splash once again.

BANGALORE May 31. After three years' absence from competitions, which was forced by back injury, Indian swimming ace Nisha Millet is all set to return to the scene with a bang.

Nisha, who was training in Australia since March, after recovering from a back surgery for the removal of non-malignant tumour, has drawn up a tight and challenging schedule for herself.

As a first step, she will take a shot next week at qualifying for the World championship and that will be followed by her first major appearance in the State senior championship in August.

It has been a long and painful climb all over again for Nisha and the first thing she did, after being declared physically fit early this year, was to fly back to Perth and train under coach Bernie Mulroy at the City of Perth Swim Club.

In a chat with The Hindu here, the 21-year-old said "I went in early March, basically to get into shape, but couldn't swim any in any meet in Australia because those that were held were for juniors and I am out of the junior ranks and also, my visa was for three months only. So I had to get back and may be when I return later this year, I should be swimming in many meets Down Under".

To test the waters, after recovering from surgery, she swam in the National Games held at Hyderabad in December 2002, where she claimed a bronze in 100m backstroke and a silver in 200m backstroke. She did not compete in her pet events — 200m and 400m freestyle.

"I will compete in those events either at the World championship to be held in Barcelona in July or at State meet. In the State meet, I will compete in all five events — 100m and 200m backstroke, 100, 200 and 400m freestyle", she said.

Nisha is set to give trials for the World championship here on June 5. "My entries are there, so if I make the grade, I should be there. But the big problem even if I qualify, is funds. We have to find our own source to compete in the World championship. I hope I find a way for it", said Nisha.

Getting back into shape wasn't easy for Nisha. She had put on weight and had to shed it . "Mentally I was strong enough, but physically I had to shed the extra kilos and get back into peak physical fitness. Fortunately, the girl I stayed with in Perth, Tamy, was a fitness freak and her father had a gym and I did heavy workouts every day, before putting as much time in the pool as well. Within a month, I was able to get back into shape. I also did a good deal of aerobic training to increase the endurance," said Nisha.

Bernie Mulroy was pleased with her improvement. "When I went there, I was struggling to keep up with juniors, but now, I can compete with the senior bunch, who were training for the World championship. Mulroy is happy that I am getting back into form. What he stressed, before I came down here, was to work on speed now that I have the fitness".

"I have shed about 4 to 5 kilos and my recovery after a swim also has improved. Earlier, I used to get pretty tired after each stint. But not anymore".

"I hope to get back the timing as well. My best in 200m freestyle was 2:06, which incidentally is the Olympic cut-off. I should touch it again soon and in fact, I should be able to better it. Sure it needs a lot of hard work", said Nisha.

Nisha has been advised to keep up the load and not to taper off before any major meet. "Mulroy was particular that I should keep the volume and not to slacken down till any major meet."

Another major gain for Nisha is the marked improvement in backstroke. "It is lot smoother. In fact, before I left here, I was conducting a coaching clinic at the Catholic Club, where a student of mine, who works with Wipro, provided me with lot of material on backstroke techniques, obtained from Net. In Perth, I watched quite a few good backstrokers, and gained from it as well", said Nisha.

She had the opportunity of training with a new Australian sensation, Travis Nederpelt, who is being tipped as successor to Ian Thorpe, and also had words of advice from the Commonwealth champion, Rachel Harris.

A heavy season looms ahead for Nisha. After the trials for the World championship, there would be a State meet, the senior Nationals in September, in which she hasn't swum since 1999, and the Afro Asian Games in October. She plans to return to Perth in October to train for the Olympics.

Right now, she is happy to be back home and trains with her team-mates at the BAC pool under her coach, S. Pradeep Kumar. "I have good team-mates, who are among the best in the country — Sivranjani, Ambica Iyengar and my sister, Reshma. Of course there is Shika Tandon from KCR and I look forward to swimming and competing against them again".

Academics has taken a back seat for Nisha at the moment. A second year B.A. student at Mount Carmel College here, she felt that it can wait in the light of her heavy programme.

"I still have few years of good swims ahead of me. Ultimately, when I leave the scene, I will still keep touch with the sport and I wish to pursue a career in sports psychology", she said.

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