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Making waves elsewhere
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Academics took precedence over sport for marathon swimmer Kutraleeshwaran. What does he have to say about it?
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PHOTO: R. RAGU
DOWN-TO-EARTH V. Kutraleeshwaran
In every promising sportsperson's career comes a stage where he/she has to make a difficult choice between education and sport.
While one in a hundred in India takes a gamble and continues with sport (and shines), the majority settle for the "practical way out"— that of taking up a job or studying further. Juggling the two is an option very few choose (and fewer succeed).
Ask V. Kutraleeshwaran, ace marathon swimmer, and he'll tell you how difficult it was for him to take the decision of quitting long-distance swimming.
He is not exploring the waters anymore but is enjoying and excelling in his field of specialisation — hardware engineering.
Back in the city from the U.S., where he did his MS and will soon join Intel as its Component Design Engineer at Sacramento, the 23-year-old explains the reasons, in a freewheeling chat, for moving away from the sport that was once close to his heart.
Practical decision
"I'll term my decision to pursue academics as practical. Opinions might differ. I wanted to secure my future. I was doing well (in swimming). I still feel I could have done more. Unfortunately, there were several other factors that influenced my decision to quit swimming, the main being sponsorship," said Kutraleeshwaran, who broke Mihir Sen's record by crossing six straits in one calendar year (1994). "When we approached people for private sponsorship, the response was not good. I don't blame them. Had I got good financial support, I would have stuck to swimming."
Six years after he opted to concentrate on academics, Kutraleeshwaran says, sport has helped and still continues to guide him in myriad ways when it comes to coping with setbacks in life. "It has taught me hard work and made me mature enough to handle any kind of situation. I don't get bogged down in failures. Sport has taught me to strive hard for whatever I want. My willpower has increased; I am a better person today... I don't think all these could have been possible if I hadn't taken to sport," says the Arjuna awardee.
Happy memories
The last time he had anything to do with swimming was when he trained a few children in Erode before he left for the U.S. to do MS.
Sitting at his Gopalapuram residence, he says, "These memories cannot be erased. People still ask me `why did you leave swimming, you could have continued'. They keep saying `anybody can do engineering but swimming, only you can'. They said I wasted my talent."
It's a thought Kutraleeshwaran has to live with.
A cricket fan
Like so many of his ilk, Kutraleeshwaran keeps himself fit by playing cricket during weekends. He is an ardent fan of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
K. KEERTHIVASAN
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