Since becoming the first Indian paddler to clinch gold in women’s singles of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in July 2019, Ayhika Mukherjee’s performance graph has steadily been on the rise.

The highest level of success so far in her career is winning an Asian Games bronze last year, along with long-time partner Sutirtha Mukherjee. The duo had stunned China’s world champion-pair of Meng Chen and Yidi Wang 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals, assuring India of a medal.

The Asiad success certainly went a long way in securing Ayhika an Arjuna award, which she received from the President in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Arjuna is indeed a motivation for the 26-year-old Naihati girl for whom the goal now is the Paris Olympics.

“Of course, I’m very happy on getting the Arjuna award. I’ve dreamt of it since I was a kid and since I saw table tennis stars getting it. I had then made up my mind that I needed to work hard to achieve this prestigious award, which certainly gives me a huge boost for my upcoming events.

“The goal, at present, is obviously clinching an Olympics berth. I will work harder and more than before so that I can achieve greater highs. And I’m sure I’ll achieve more for India,” Ayhika told The Telegraph after reaching Calcutta late on Wednesday evening.

How realistic are her prospects of securing what would be her maiden Olympics berth? “Well, for the Olympics, we will have to qualify first. We have the team qualification (in the form of the world championship in South Korea) in February, so we will have to give our 100 per cent to achieve a berth.

“My game is very unpredictable, so I always have to change for the best. So yeah, there are many areas I will change and improve, and will be looking to add some more skills,” Ayhika emphasised.

“They need to finish among the top-eight for Olympic qualification,” coach Soumyadeep Roy, with whom Ayhika and Sutirtha train at the Dhanuka Dhunseri Soumyadeep Poulomi Table Tennis Academy, said.

“For the past one year, Ayhika has made some changes in her game and it has worked well. At present, what she requires is just a little bit of improvement in terms of her forehand, backhand and fitness. She’s far more patient now,” Roy pointed out.

Playing anti-spin, which leads to variation in terms of ball speed, has benefited Ayhika, especially against the Chinese duo, something she too acknowledged. “There’s a technique when it comes to playing anti-spin, which Ayhika is doing quite well,” said her childhood coach Mihir Ghosh. “She’s not relying on top-spin either as her flat hit looks a lot better.”