Given below are two statements : one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A) : When an athlete begins to learn a new skill, his learning curve shows an increasing gain pattern.
Reason (R) : The initial rise is indicative of the rapid progress generally attributed to novelty of the activity or skill, interest and curiosity of learner.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below :