Ayonika Paul aims to win a medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016 after the silver in the 10m air rifle event at CWG14 at Glasgow has made her more ambitious and determined. India’s Aprurvi Chandila won the gold at Glasgow.
“The silver is just the beginning of the journey and there is more to come. I started my journey here. My sister and I owe a lot to the school. A lot of hard work has gone into this medal, but the school and teachers helped me by giving internal exams and sparing me for competitions,’’ said Ayonika, addressing students and teachers of the Swami Vivekanand High School and Junior College at Chembur on Saturday. She was a student of the school for 12 years.
Supported by Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), Ayonika, who turns 22 on September 22, will train at Vienna from next week for the Asian Games in Incheon (September-October) and the ISSF world championship at Granada, Spain, from September 6 to 20.
Two years ago, Ayonika outshone Anjali Bhagwat and Suma Shirur at the KSS memorial championship in New Delhi. She had earlier won gold at an international junior competition in Munich in 2008. However, her ‘impact performance’ came at the 2011 Asian junior championships at Kuwait where she won the bronze. Ayonika, however, failed to make the cut for the Asian championship and London Olympics in 2012.
Delighted at Ayonika’s achievement, Vivekanand school principal Bina Gole said, “Ayonika first came to this school as a KG student. Now, she is back among us with a silver. We look forward to seeing her back with an Olympic medal.”
Ayonika, daughter of former Central Railway swimming coach Ashim, made the switch from swimming to shooting when she was in eighth standard.
“After the first competition, I felt I could try it,” she said. Her father took loan from Central Railway to meet her expenses. “I wanted to support her at any cost. It was very hard on the family from a financial point of view,” said Ashim.
Sashwati Sengupta, who was Ayonika’s teacher for five years, said: “She was a jovial student. The only problem was that she had to miss classes for sports, she was good at studies too.”
