'It is a dream come true for me'

Coming from a humble background, he has surely made it big this time. Seventeen-year-old swimmer Supriya Mondal from Midnapore, West Bengal has made India proud by qualifying for the 2014 Youth Olympics to be held in Nanjing, China.

 He won the gold in the 200m butterfly event at the Dubai International Aquatic Championships in Hamdan. 

Speaking to Metrolife about his proud moment, Supriya Mondal, the young swimmer, said, “Qualifying for the Youth Olympics is a dream come true for me. I am thankful to everyone who supported me and my dream. Qualifying for the Olympics was my target and I achieved it. I now want to improve my timings and win more medals for my country.”

Swimming since the age of three, Supriya  says he always dreamt of becoming a swimmer. Talking about his initial days and how he took to the water sport, he said, “We had a huge pond in front of our house and I used swim there daily and that is how I started loving this sport. And in 2006 , I participated in my first ever national game.”

Supriya won the qualifying event in Dubai by achieving the ‘A’ mark, clocking a time of 2:03.93s. This was one of the three medals won by him at the Dubai International Aquatic Championships. He had earlier won a silver in 100m butterfly followed by a gold in 50m butterfly event.

“I was never interested in any other sport like football and cricket and moreover, we do not have enough space to play these games in our village. So, I was quite happy learning swimming. My parents are also very proud of me and my father advises me to improve my timings. My younger brother is following in my footsteps and he is also training to become a swimmer,” says the youngster happily. 

Currently in Std XI, the young swimmer wants to complete his studies and do his graduation. Talking about swimming as a career in India, he said, “The government should give more support to our sport than only supporting cricket. We do not get enough help or encouragement from the establishment.”

Supriya, who is an expert in Butterfly style wants to qualify for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. “These are my ultimate goals and I want to achieve it by improving my timings,” added the swimmer.