Ayonika Paul

Ayonika Paul (born 23 September 1992) is an Indian shooter who competes in the 10 metre air rifle event. She won the silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Ayonika Paul
Personal information
NationalityIndian
Born (1992-09-23) 23 September 1992
Mumbai, India
Height163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Sport
CountryIndia
SportShooting
Event(s)10 metre air rifle
Coached byThomas Farnik
Medal record
Women's shooting
Representing  India
Commonwealth Games
2014 Glasgow10 m air rifle
Updated on 26 July 2014.

Ayonika Paul was confirmed by the Selection Committee of NRAI to represent India at the Rio Olympics 2016, where she finished at 47th position in the qualification round out of 51 contestants.[1]

Early life

She was born in September 1992 at Mumbai, India and is the daughter of Ashim Paul, a Railway employee and Aparna Paul. She studied at Swami Vivekananda high school in Chembur, Mumbai. She graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Pillai College of Engineering, Panvel — and is now pursuing a Master’s in Electronics Engineering. Ayonika Paul was once an excellent swimmer but slowly her interest developed in the rifle shooting.[2] She had earlier won Bronze in ISSF World Cup 2014 in Slovenia.[3][4]

She holds a BE Electronics degree and is a member of the National Rifle Association of India.[5]

Early Training

She started out as a swimming champion in her early days, with her father as the coach. However her interest turned to shooting in 2006, when she saw Rajyavardhan Singh Rathod at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where he won the silver medal for India.

She got her first rifle, an imported Feinwerkvan for Rs 1.2 lakh which her father provided for through loans and thus started her journey in shooting.

Her weekly practice was done at Pune, which had better training facilities and she had to juggle through her studies and shooting practice to achieve her goals.[4]

Career

2007- She won her first ever medal, double gold, at the international junior competition in Suhl, Germany.[4]

2008- A gold medal at the International Junior Shooting Competition in Munich paved her way towards an international career and brought her into the limelight.[4][6][7][8]

2011- She won a bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championships in Kuwait and was ranked third.

2012- She won the bronze medal at the Asian Airgun Championships in 2015 in the 10m for Women’s 10m Air Rifle.

2014- As well as clinching the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, held at Glasgow, Scotland she finished seventh in the women's 10-metre air rifle event at the 2014 Asian Games.[9][10][11]

2015-She represents Maharashtra in the National Games and won the silver medal at the National Games held at Kerala.[12]

2016- She won the silver medal at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition in New Delhi (IND) and thus became one of the qualifiers for shooting at the Rio Olympics, but had an early exit in the same. She was backed and supported by the NGO, Olympic Gold Quest for Rio.[13][14][15]

2014-Bachelor in Electronics Engineering from Pillai College of Engineering, Panvel.

2018- Masters in Electronics Engineering specialising in Image Processing from University of Mumbai. Having worked on Real Time Adaptive Target Tracking using computer vision, her manuscript was published in Journal of Electronic Design Engineering.[16]

Accolades

She is a recipient of the Maharashtra government’s Shiv Chhatrapati award.[4]

ISSF World Medal Tally
No. Event Championship Year Place Medal
1 10m air rifle ISSF World Cup 2014 Maribor

References
  1. "Rio Olympics 2016: Jitu Rai finishes 8th in 10m Air Pistol; Apurvi Chandela, Ayonika Paul out in qualifiers". First Post. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  2. "Women's 10 metre air rifle Finals". glasgow2014.com. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  3. "Apurvi Chandila wins gold, Ayonika Paul silver in 10m air rile". news.biharprabha.com. IANS. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  4. Rashid, Omar. "Ayonika Paul now aims for the Olympic gold". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  5. "ISSF - International Shooting Sport Federation - issf-sports.org". www.issf-sports.org. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  6. "Know your Indian Olympian: 10 things to know about Ayonika Paul". Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  7. "Ayonika Paul: 10 things to know about India's talented shooter headed for the Rio Olympics 2016". 5 July 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  8. "Interview with shooter Ayonika Paul, who is aiming to hit the bull's eye at the Commonwealth Games". 27 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  9. NDTVSports.com. "Commonwealth Games 2014: India's Apurvi Chandela Wins Gold, Ayonika Paul Gets Silver in 10m Air Rifle – NDTV Sports". NDTVSports.com. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  10. Viswanath, G. "There is more to come: Ayonika". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  11. "Commonwealth Games: Apurvi Chandela wins gold, Ayonika Paul bags silver in Women's 10m Air Rifle - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  12. "National Games 2015 Kerala Shooting Results and Medal Winners List". www.indiancrux.info. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  13. "Ayonika Paul Profile: 10m Air Rifle women's". The Indian Express. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  14. "India at Rio Olympics, Highlights: Heartbreaking opening day for India". Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  15. PTI. "Ayonika Paul gears up for Rio Olympics". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  16. Paul, Ayonika (22 August 2018). "Real Time Adaptive Tracking System Using Computer Vision". Journal of Electronic Design Engineering. 4 (1, 2).

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