By Sudhakar Shanbhag
PANAJI: Medals are definitely a driving force for achievers and it’s no different for Goa’s wonder girl Talasha Prabhu, who by virtue of her Dempo Goodwill Ambassadorship has been able to carve a special niche for herself in swimming both at national and international level.

Talasha, who just swam out of Jaipur with five national level medals at the 64th Senior Aquatic Nationals, took her medals tally at the nationals to 38 and her first five in senior nationals came at Jaipur itself within a week’s span.
Bigger than that, the suave lass also made the state proud by earning a selection  among 7 girls  and 13 boys, who were selected for the Indian aquatics teams for the prestigious Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi from October 3-14. A fantastic news for Goa as she is the first sportsperson to be in that list for the Commonwealth Games from this tiny but impacting state; and kudos to her for making it to the elite seven for the Commonwealth Games.
The news of her selection for Commonwealth Games coincides with her selection for the Dilip Sardessai Award for Sports Excellence and the fact that she has also done the House of Dempos proud, because of her Dempo Brand Ambassadorship adds the icing on the cake.
Now that Talasha, a student of Dhempe College, is set to attend the Commonwealth Games camp from September 1 at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Complex, in New Delhi, the ace Goan swimmer is all set to focus her energies on a new challenge and aims to scale a new frontier of excellence as expectations would be high and that there will be medal hopes pinned on Talasha for sure. Performing at the Delhi event will put her on an altogether different pedestal.
“I am very happy that I made it to the Commonwealth Games aquatics team and would be representing India. Nothing could be more satisfying than achieving this feat
as a Goan swimmer,” Talasha disclosed when asked for her reactions when ‘The Navhind Times’ interviewed her on her arrival from Jaipur on
Sunday afternoon.
“I would definitely rate this selection as a great achievement on a personal note and all thanks to my national coach Sir Pradeep, who is the guiding force behind my swimming achievements thus far at the national level,” Talasha, who claimed 2 Gold, 2 Silver and one bronze in the Senior nationals at Jaipur, pointed out.
Asked about her immediate schedule now that she has been selected for the India team for Commonwealth Games, Talasha disclosed that she would probably be on a 10-day camp in New Delhi at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Complex from Sept 1 as the venue is a world class pool and training under such facilities would be an ideal preparation for the Games, Talasha disclosed.
Little wonder that Talasha clinched gold at the senior nationals in Jaipur in her patent events the 50-m freestyle and 100-m freestyle where she not only produced her best timings of 0:29.50sec and 0:59.23sec respectively, but also scored moral points over favourite Jyotsana Pansare, of Maharashtra, who had travelled to the US for a 3-month training, before being back for the Jaipur nationals. “I took a lot of pride in beating Pansare to win my twin Gold medals in Jaipur despite the fact that I could have done better on my timings had the pools been of better quality. Nevertheless, my timings were good enough and based on my performances, I made it to the Indian team,” Talasha explained as she became the first Goan swimmer to make the Commonwealth Games squad.
According to Talasha, her timings in Jaipur were close to the Olympic qualifiers which were 0:56.30sec and 0:26.81sec for the 100-m and 50-m freestyle events and that she would at least need one more year to better these benchmarks by another second at least.
Wearing the Speedo Laser Elite swim suits, the latest in the circuit, has also contributed to Talasha’s success in Jaipur, which are knee-skin suits best quipped to allow the swimmer record the best timings. “The older V-cut suits wouldn’t give me the desired results, but the new ones are better and are of the international standards,” Talasha disclosed and reiterated that she would strive hard to maintain the high standards set by her coach Pradeep Kumar and work hard to win laurels for India and Goa in the Commonwealth Games.
Asked whether she has idols that she looks up to, Talasha was instantaneous in her reactions and named ace national swimmer, Richa Mishra, who is her India team-mate for the Delhi Commonwealth Games. In fact, Richa clocked 9:26.18 seconds to win gold medal in the 800m Free Style event of the 64th Senior National Aquatic Championship at Sawai Man Singh stadium, Jaipur. Talasha adores Richa for her powers of concentration and also for the fact that she is winning medals even at the age of 27. “Basically Richa has been around in the swimming  circuit for the last 12 years and I adore her physical endurance and the intense powers of concentrations, which ideally makes her my idol and a good pal,” the Goan swimming sensation reminded.
Talasha also endorsed the fact that Mr Shrinivas V Dempo, chairman of Dempo Group of Companies was also motivating and encouraging her and without doubt the House of Dempos were totally responsible for playing a major role and being prime  contributors to her success as a swimmer. “I am very much aware that all my necessities are sourced from the Dempos and I owe them my success,” Talasha summed up, vouching for a better show at the Commonwealth Games.