It was a tough call for Ashim Paul, a Railway employee with humble earnings, when he let his young daughter pursue her passion for rifle shooting- a costly sport that requires specialized training and sophisticated equipment. But eight years later he does not regret his decision.
“I had to invest in her education someday. If my children are on the right track, I thought, why not invest here,” says Mr. Paul, father of Ayonika Paul, 21, who clinched the silver medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
In the initial days, Mr. Paul managed to support Ayonika’s sport through loans and by withdrawing from his Provident Fund to purchase her first rifle, an imported Feinwerkvan for Rs 1.2 lakh. However, that was not the only difficulty. The father-daughter duo would travel to Pune each weekend for practice as the city has better training facilities for the sport. The regimen was tedious and shuffling sports with academics was a challenge for Ayonika who is studying to be an engineer. But a disciplined training routine, packed with power naps, and excellent “time-skills” drove her home, she says. “Every month I had to give a letter to the school to allow me to go for shooting competitions,” said Ayonika.
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She return to her old school, Swami Vivekanand High School in suburban Chembur, on Saturday to receive a hero's welcome. Described as an introvert and soft-spoken by her teachers, she was flanked by faculty members and students seeking her autograph. Confident by her win, she has eyes set on her next goal, the World Championships in Spain. But she aspires for the big one. "I see myself as an Olympic champion," says Ayonika, who won her first medal in 2007 after she clinched a bronze at the international junior competition in Suhl, Germany.
However, she truly arrived at the international stage a year later when she won a gold at the International Junior Shooting Competition in Munich. She has since gone on to win multiple medals at the junior and senior level, including a bronze at the Asian Junior Championships in Kuwait in 2011.
Though she possessed a keen eye with the rifle, shooting was not Ayonika's first pride-she has been a champion swimmer since a very young age. Her father, a sportsman himself, was her swimming trainer.
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Ayonika took up shooting only in 2006, while she was in class 8. Her shift in interest was inspired by the silver medal feat of Indian shooter Raghvendra Singh Rathod at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
“But, I feel, it was her inner feelings that pulled her to the sport, says Ashim.
Today, Ayonika idolizes ace Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra even as they play on the same team.
Ayonika acheived her latest feat with a shooting jacket and trousers that cost Rs. 70,000, shooting shoes worth Rs. 18,000 and a weapon costing Rs.1.7 lakh. Though she is a recipient of the Maharashtra government’s Shiv Chhatrapati award, Ayonika is disappointed by the State’s failure in living up to its “promises” in supporting her.
"The State has a big role in motivating us and should do more," she said adding that she was grateful to NGOs such as the Olympic Gold Quest for supporting her.
Ayonika’s journey has inspired her younger sister Aliana (19), who is studying mobile engineering, to take up the sport. Alinans is in the junior Indian squad and the only player from Maharashtra to participate in the trap event.