Supriya Mondal: Swimming against all adversities

Supriya Mondal in action during the Junior National Aquatic Championships in Bangalore

The dawn of a prodigy

Supriya Mondal is the son of a fisherman who hails from Shahpur near Kolkata. His first tryst with swimming started when he saw people swimming in a pond close to his home. He soon learnt to swim in a village tank nearby. He kept at it day in and day out.

Supriya’s talent was noticed early by his mentor Sajib Chakraborty, who taught him the rules of professional swimming. His training began to show results as Supriya won two golds and a silver at the National Championships in Goa in 2009.

GoSports Guidance

Supriya is a recipient of the GoSports Foundation’s PACE scholarship and has shifted to Bangalore. They take care of the training and travel costs of the youngster. He is coached by Nihar Ameen.

The Dream

Supriya qualified for the Youth Olympics after winning a gold medal in the 200m butterfly event in Hamdan. He clocked 2:03.93s, achieving the ‘A’ qualification mark in the process.

Mondal had earlier won silver in 100m butterfly with a timing of 56.45s and followed it up with a gold in 50m butterfly clocking 25.67s, achieving the ‘B’ qualification mark in both the events.

“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,” he said.

“My aim is to win a medal for India at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, he added.

His coach 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.”

Supriya Mondal

He needs your support

A total of Rs. 15,000 is required for his accommodation, food and supplements every month.

Would you like to support a young teenager staying far away from his family, to fulfil his dream? Would you like to play a part in Supriya’s dream of winning an Olympic medal come true? Would you pledge your support to help him train in Bangalore to continue his high-performance swimming and achieve glory for India?

Donate now, and help this inspiring youngster rise against all odds and reach the peak of his sporting prowess!

How can you help?

To know more about the campaign, visit here.

For regular updates on Supriyo’s progress, you can follow GoSports on facebook

Twitter handle: @GoSportsVoices

Supriya concludes by saying ,” Swimming is just something I like. I only have one goal and that is to only engrave his name in the history of sports.”

Here is the video of his journey so far: