Supriya Mondal qualifies for Youth Olympics; meets 'A' qualification time in 200m butterfly, wins 3 medals 

Tuesday, 29th April, 2014, Bangalore: Swimmer Supriya Mondal qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympics, winning gold at the 1st Dubai International Aquatic Championships.

17-year-old swimmer Supriya Mondal qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympics to be held in in Nanjing, China by winning gold in the 200m butterfly event at the Dubai International Aquatic Championships in Hamdan. Achieving the ‘A’ qualification mark, Supriya won the event, clocking a time of 2:03.93s. This was one of three medals won by Supriya at the Dubai International Aquatic Championships – he had earlier won a silver in 100m butterfly with a timing of 56.45s and followed it up with a gold in 50m butterfly clocking 25.67s today, achieving the ‘B’ qualification mark in both the events.

Supriya, a grant recipient of the GoSports Foundation’s PACE scholarships programme, had been relocated to Bangalore where he has been training under Coach Nihar Ameen. Sports non-profit GoSports Foundation has been actively involved in the development of the swimmer by taking care of all his accommodation, training and tournament related expenses over the last 3 years.

Delighted by the success of his young ward, Nihar Ameen said, “I am extremely proud of his achievement. Accomplishing this feat is a testament to his sincerity and hard work. In the next few months we will focus solely on the Youth Olympics and train towards performing exceptionally well at Nanjing in August.”

The young swimmer Supriya Mondal said, “Qualifying for the Youth Olympics is a dream come true for me. I am thankful to my family, coach and others who have supported my dream. I hope to make them all proud at the Youth Olympics in August and beyond.”

Nandan Kamath, Managing Trustee of GoSports Foundation, added, “It is a moment of pride for all of us at the GoSports Foundation to see Supriya qualify for the Youth Olympics. When we began working with him, Supriya had access to neither infrastructure nor training facilities – in fact, he learnt to swim in the local tank. He is an inspiration to every young boy and girl in India who dreams big, against all odds.”

Supriya Mondal has been creating waves in the Sub-junior and Junior National aquatic meets. Hailing from Shahpur in West Bengal and coming from a family of modest means, he has won several national accolades across various butterfly and individual medley events, events that require technique, skill and versatility.