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By Erick Ochieng’
Eleven-year-old Ayushi Chandaria is optimistic of shattering records and win medals at the Africa Zone Three and Four Swimming championships that kick off tomorrow in Nairobi.
The Singapore-based swimmer has already acclimatised and is confident tips she is getting from her Kenyan coach Andrew Nderu will propel her to stardom.
Ayushi Chandaria
She has lauded Nderu whom she says has different approaches to swimming compared to her Singapore coaches. Ayushi whose name means long life, is so confident she will perform well in the 100m back and breaststrokes. She has a personal best time of 1.21 and 1.31 in the categories.To aid her speed and strokes, her mother Aartia Chandaria has placed her vegetarian daughter on carbohydrate diet for more energy during the championships.
"The major challenge is that water is very cold in Kenya compared to Singapore where the climate is humid throughout the year," said Yushi whose role model is global swimming sensation Michael Phelps of the US.
Hit waters
Her other challenge is the 5.30am time she has to rise to hit the waters. But her mother and grandfather, Manu Chandaria are always by her side to give her the moral support she needs.
"My mum accompanies me to every contest and last year she surprised me with a three day trip to the US at high performance centre in Florida for training," she said.
She is promising to unleash some of the secrets she learnt at Kasarani Aquatic Complex in Nairobi where the continental championships would be held.
Apart from Kenya, swimming has already taken her to Singapore, Australia and the US. But the lanky girl is not only a swimmer, she is perfect when it comes to belly dancing, Indian dances not withstanding.
She loves plying the piano and is good in Chinese. Among her achievements in swimming include the inter school championships where she leads her Tanglia Trust School members in Singapore in winning derbies. Other achievements include Indian Ocean All Stars meet in 2008 in Perth, Australia, where she was among the junior finalists. She has qualified for the Singapore National Age Group championship for the third year running since 2007.
Warmer climate
Ayushi attributes her success to her Southern Cross Dragon team whose members are an inspirational lot.
Comparing Kenya and Singapore, Yushi would prefer training in Singapore due to its state-of-the-art facilities and warmer climate all the year round. She hopes to swim for the rest of her life apart from the dream of getting a mathematics major at Stanford University, US, like her dad.
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