MUMBAI, March 18: Like most others Shi Yen Shu took to swimming just for the fun of it. It was by `accident' that she got into competitive swimming. And just as she started making her way through the competitive maze she struck gold. Literally so as the 14-year-old Mumbaiite claimed top honours in the 100m breastroke swimming at this year's Imphal National Games. The achievement is highlighted by the fact that it was Maharashtra's only gold in the discipline.``I was a bit tense on the starting grid,'' says the soft-spoken Shi Yen while talking to The Express Newsline during one of her training sessions at the Andheri Sport Complex swimming pool. ``I was not aiming for the gold but wanted to do my best.'' And best she did clocking 1 minute 26.84 seconds to keep her more experienced and bigger opponents at bay. The time, however, was five seconds more than her personal best thanks to the low temperatures and cold waters in Imphal.But that was not all. The class eight student of Bombay ScottishSchool also picked up the 200m silver and a bronze in 50m, all in breastroke her pet event.The third generation of a Chinese family who migrated during the Second World war, Shi Yen took to competitive swimming at the age of nine, by `accident'. Alongwith her younger brother and father, Shi Yen used to visit the Andheri Sports Complex swimming pool occasionally. And during one such visit her father chanced upon a coaching camp for swimming being held at the Complex and enrolled her. Little did he know that the kids were under special training for competitions. Nevertheless, Shi Yen did well and within five months was ready to splash into the world of competitive swimming.A regular at most events across the country, it was a bit of a surprise for the Shu family when Shi Yen got the call for Imphal. With the Games only a month away, time was running out. Luckily, Shi Yen was under the able guidance of Prem Gajinkar who has been a well-known name among swimming circles since he began coaching in1988.`We had just a month's time at hand,'' noted Gajinkar, winner of the Maharashtra State's Best Swimming Coach award in 1996.And the duo wasted no time. From then on life revolved more around the pool though it was never too easy. Shi Yen, a class eight student of Bombay Scottish had to juggle between school and the pool. Two hours in the morning followed by school and two and a half-hours in the evening was the rigid training schedule she had to follow. ``If we could have more time we could have done still better,'' says Gajinkar.``Shi Yen is technically very sound,'' adds the 30-year-old coach who's wards includes well known names like like Zeba Wadia, Parikshit Shetty and Tejaswi Shetty. ``She has probably one of the technically best breaststrokes in the country,'' says her coach, a point seconded at the Games by Pradeep, coach of Karnataka's golden girl Nisha Millet who finished with a record tally of 14 gold medals.Shi Yen does not want to rest on her laurels and her future, like manyother sportpersons in the country, depends on finances. Fortunately for her, Shi Yen's father, Chhan Kang has been a major driving force. He even bore the expenses for her air ticket to Imphal to save her the five-day ordeal by train which probably went a long way in her good performance.About his ward's future, coach Gajinkar is very optimistic. ``Maybe it has something to do with her lineage but she has in her what it takes to be an international swimmer. Let's hope for the best.''
