In sync with her dreams

Despite being the only Indian on the World Cup team, when it comes to synchronised swimming, Prateeti Sabhlok is no fish out of water

Ir's a sport that immediately brings to mind graceful swimmers performing intricate, rhythmk, complex dance and gymnastic moves co beautiful music, in the water. An extremely difficult sport, synchronised swimming requires superior swin:uning skills, flexibility, endurance, strengtb, extraordinary breath cona:ol, artistic inclin ations, precise timing and control of the body in water. And this is exactly what Prareeti Sabh lok has achieved as she a:a.ins hard w i th he r team to represent Australia at tl1e upcoming Synchro World Cup to be hosted i n Quebec Cit)~ Canada from 2-4 October, 2014

A spore where you find very few Indians, Prateeti has g iven us much to be proud about.

She has been the V ictoria State Jltnior Figure Charnpion fo r tbree years in a row - 2011, 20 12 and 2013. S h e is also the first Indian t o be awarded the Ros Keeble Achievement Award this year for the highest swimmer contribution to tl1e sport of synchronised swimming.

Prateeti has been regular ly participating in national level competitions since 2007, and was also selec ted to be a member of the Australian Talent ID Squad in 2009

She was part of the team that represented Ausa-alia in the 2010 Oceania Championships in Samoa and also tl1e 20 1 I New Zealand Championships held in Hamilron, New Zealand. Her skill s and talents did n ot go unnoticed and she was one o f three Victorian girls (in a team of eight) selected to represent A u stralia at the Canad ian Open Championships held in May 2014, where her team brought honour to Australia by winning the silver medal in two categories - Team (Tech) and (Free) Routines.

A native of Delhi, Prateeti has been living in V icmria since the age of 6ve. She loved to swim a nd was introduced tO the fascinating world of synchronised swimming by her mother. "I fell in love with this beautiful sport and started tO train as a synchronised swimmer from the age of nine," she told Indian U11k. Prateeti mostly a·ains at the PLC Aquatic C lub, Burwood and sometimes al so at Vi ctoria University, Footscrar,

In preparation for the upcoming \Xforld Cup, Prateeti trains hard for eight to 10 hours, five to six times every week concentrating on fitness, flexibility, swimming a nd syn chronised swimming skill work with her current coaches, Erika Leal-Ramirez and Dilini Narmada S h e does all this while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne. " T h e training camps are in ten sive and are held interstate as all the girls training to compete at tl1e World Cup are from different parts of Australia an d must fly to one location, usually Canberra or Perth".

When asked if she faced any difficulties bei ng an Indian in this field, "I have only received support and enconragemenr from all cornets so far". She also mentioned duu though she is the o n ly L1dian, her other team members belong to diverse backgrounds which lends a multicul tural can1araderie to the whole team. Their prin1ary focus is t he ir love for che sport which shines through in every t erun event they take part in.

Bue there is one difficul ty tl1at Prateeti encounters and that is lack of funding. Synchronised swimming hardly gets any kind of federal fL111cling or su p po.rt which leaves the swimmers to raise their own funds for travelling expenses, gear and training sess ions. Apart from -11.foadore, which provides training bathers for tl1e tea m , Prateeti and her team are unsponsored and sa-uggling to meet expenses. Most of her expe n ses hav e been paid out of her family's pocket and the remaining through fundraising programs. For th is reason, the team approached Sportaroo, an online fundraising website to try and raise money ro meet the cost of tl1eir training and make their

World Cup dream a realil:)'- The money raised through tl1e website will be distributed equally runongst the te am members.

Prateeci dreams of participating in the Olymp ics one day and that dream can become a reality wi th a .little bit of help from ail of us. Head over co htt:ps:/ /www.sportaroo.com/ synchrosiste rs and spare a few dollars to help this vivacious young git! achieve h er dreams and make us proud.

Rupinder Kaur is all set for Glasgow as part ofAustralia's wrestling team

BY RAJNI ANAND \ LUTHRA

With only days to go before tbe big event, Rup inder Kaur is concentrating hard on her training. For six days a week, i t's track and field in the day, and in the afternoon, club.

The 29- year-o ld wrestler is working hard indeed to make the most of cl1e opportunity she has won, a spot on the Australian national team for the upco.mii1.g Commonwealth Games at G lasgow.

"Sote,ja;tgte has game, ga1J1e gaflle ke bare 1nei11 soocbti rebti boon (All 1 think about in my waking hours and even in my sleep, is my game)" she tells Tndian Link bursting with enthus iasm. "Most nights, I even dream abour the game!"

In between training, she concentrates on her diet.

She's just finished dinner as Indian Li11k speaks to her, a hearty Punjab i meal of )lladi, plenty of

\7egetables, pa11eer, dal, yogurt and a massive bowl of frui t. As a vegetarian, she has to get the proteins in.

Plus, these days, she's crying co gain some weight.

As someone who has always played in cl1e 48 kg div ision, she was shod,ed w hen she weighed in at just over 49 kg before her seleccion. The gain in weight meant that she wou ld be placed at the next level, the 53 kg divis ion With exactly a week to go, Rupinder worked hard to lose the extra kilo, but ulcimate ly weighed in at 48.2 kg. She is now competing in tl1e 53 kg division.

"Actually, I'm eating bananas by the dozen these days," she says, laughing

Wrestlers ty p icall y lose weight to compete in a lower divis ion, but Rupinder feels she should he ok

"Koshisb to pmi hai, baaki Bbag1J1at1Jo kare (l'm trying my hardest, the rest I leave to God)," she says witl1 simplicity.

It's been an interesting journey for Rupinder. She arrived here some seven years ago as a hospi tality smdenr, fully determined to continue wrestling which she started in India at school.

"l did not know a t:bi.ng about wrestling .in A u stralia, but I was hell bent on finding out".

Seven months later, at a local Diwali fnnction, a famil y member introduced her co Kuldip Singh Bassi , founder and president of the United Wrestling Club in Melbourne. Rupinder was back on tl1e mac in no time. Before Jong, she was w inning championships such as die Ausu·alia Cup.

To compete at the international level thougb, she had to wait for her cicizensh ip to come thro ugh

"My o nl y regret in my wrestling career is that l left it so lare with my citizensh ip".

But now she is looking eagerly al1ead. At Glasgow, she will catm up witl1 her old mates from the Indian nacional team.

"I know most of the Indian team, yes," she reveals. ":tvfy c losest friend Navjyor Kaur will be tl1ere, competing in the 69 kg category. avjyor and l are bocl1 from Hari Ke Patao near Tarn Taran in Pnnjab. We used to ttain together in the o ld days".

Rupinder started her fight career in judo as a Year 6 student, following her sister Parminder. In Year 12 she was asked to give wrestling a cry

"lniciall)' 1 felt a bit shy to put the costume on - with judo d1ere were no costume issues. :Mum was concerned about injuries But Dad told us both to stop being silly! As an army man he wanted his childre n to try as many new experiences as possible. My first performance came good, and 1 have never looked back".

So what's in the future?

"Well, tl1ere's talk about Rio already!" Rupinder says. "Bue whatever evenn1a.tes, l will be connected to wrestling all my life, that's for sure".

The young atlilete i s keen for he r ream to bring back as many medals as possible from Scotland.

"It will be a huge boost for tl1e sport in cl-us country. le is so little known. Plus we need more support, really. Currencly, I'm paying my mvn cl ub fees like all m y ocher team mates. In India, as a member of t:be national team, my training was free".

Rupinder follows fellowMelbour11ian Sandeep Kumar, another L1dian- origin wrestler, who represented Australia at the Beij ing O lympics.

Ob, and we can't let Rupinder go without asking an important q u estion: does she know the words to the Australian nacional anmem, just in case?

Pat comes the reply, "Ha,111/i, bilkul aata bt1i,ji (Yes of course!)"

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, o i, oi !

fl-cvt JKwvtiage ~t,udro.n

~:

Qualified Education Agent Counsellor Required

C Migration Centre Pty Ltd is one of the leadin g Student and Migration Consultancy fi rm in Sydney. With the increase and growth in the business we are hiring more staff

The Role

Migration Centre is currently seeking an enthu siastic and customer service driven Qualifi ed Education Agent Counsellor to assess prospective student application and consult them to provide the righ t pathway to study in Austral ia. You will need to asses overseas qu alifications, documents, to provide a hassle free admission process to the cl ients. The role will also involve developin g and maintaining relationships with key education providers, health cover provider and accommodation providers for students.

Must have:

2-3 years of experience as an Education Counsellor for Australian Education Providers.

Desirable:

• QEAC registration

• Demonstrated experience in providing high levels of customer service

• Demonstrated skill and experience in managing relationships

• Demonstrated ability to prioritise tasks and manage work through to comp letion with in tight deadlines

• Demonstrated skill and experience in understanding , interpreting and policies and procedures

• Demonstrated cultu ral understanding and sensitivity.

• Demonstrated computer skills including MS office and internet.

• Excell ent verba l, wr itten and interpersonal skills