Story by Jon Nio
He may be only 15 but he is already making waves in the water polo community. Meet Rishi Shankar Pandey, recipient of this year's Most Promising Young Player award for water polo, at the inaugural Manulife Singapore Swimming Association Awards.
Dubbed "The Fish" by his teammates, Rishi is the captain of the water polo team at Anglo- Chinese School (Barker). He was instrumental in helping ACS (Barker) capture the coveted gold medal at the Schools' National B Division Water Polo Championships back in April 2008.
Having swum competitively for his primary school, Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), Rishi's excellent swimming skills and deep-seated competitive streak was the right recipe for a star water polo player. Rishi credits his brother Rahul for introducing the sport to him. “I got started in water polo when my brother first asked me to attend one of their trainings," says Rishi.
An accomplished water polo player himself, Rahul took his younger brother under his wing; and it looks like his efforts have paid off. This brotherly duo have been crucial in ACS (Barker)'s recent achievements in the sport. Both Rishi and Rahul represented Singapore in the International Water Polo Championship Under-16 PRIM-Medan Cup 2008 held in Medan, Indonesia, in April this year. They helped Singapore clinch the cup.
The efforts and results of the young team has caught the attention of Singapore Water Polo, the water polo extension of the Singapore Swimming Association, which has plans to engage more of Singapore's young swimmers in the game and nurture more talents like Rishi. One of the ways is to first interest more Singaporeans in water polo - arguably Singapore's most successful sport, because the Singapore national men's team have been crowned champions for a consecutive 22 times in the SEA Games.
Come this August, Singapore will play host to nine Olympic-bound water polo teams which will be converging in Singapore to acclimatise and compete before moving on to the Beijing Olympics Games in pursuit of an Olympic medal. The five-day tournament will be held at the Singapore Sports School from the 31 July to the 4 August 2008.
Rishi, for one, is excited at the chance to catch these top teams live in action and hopes to take away valuable pointers and tips to step up his game. Rishi:" We (the ACS Barker water polo team) will be going down for the games, watch how these teams play and hopefully come away with some new strategies and tactics for our game."
Interested in water polo or in catching some world-class live action at The Road to Beijing - Pre-Olympics Water Polo Invitational? Tickets to the tournament are available online at www.ticketsas.com, or by calling Singapore Swimming Association office at 6258 1011. Alternatively, tickets can be purchased at the Singapore Sports School on game days. For more details, please visit Singapore Water Polo’s website.
hay rishiboo gandu pride =p
Love you bro