Olympian swimmer and Arjuna Awardee Rehan Poncha, one of India's most
distinguished athletes was in the city of Chandigarh as guest of
honour,to inaugrate Air Asia'a flght from Bangalore to Chandigarh.

The low-cost carrier,which launched it's service on June 12th here,
operates daily flights to Goa,Chennai,Kochi,Jaipur and Chandigarh from
Bnagalore,using the new Airbus A-320 aircraft.

The $30-million Indo-Malaysian joint venture has AirAsiaBerhad (with
49 percent equity), Tata Sons (30 percent) and Telstra Tradeplace (21
percent) as partners.
On board, Rehan conducted a fun quiz with the passengers which was
felicitated by Air Asia."It was a pleasure being on the inaugral
flight of Air Asia,which was a lovely expereience." said Rehan.

Rehan who has recently given up competitive swimming,has always wanted
to give back to the sport that gave him so much in someway. He has
initiated his own swim clinics called 'Swimsmart with Rehan Poncha'
focussing on strokes,technique and power in the pool, to help
competitive swimmers become more efficient in water.

This is based on his own experience of representing India at the highest levels.
Started 6 months ago,Rehan has offered these workshops in Mumbai and
Delhi, and soon he hopes to operate in Chandigarh and other cities too
in Maharashtra.

Speaking on the same, Rehan said,"I believe that I could have done
much better during my swimming days, if I had a mentor just like me,to
guie me and walk me through the right path. Overall, It really feels
great to be contributing to the developement of Indian sport in
someway."