Ayesha Billimoria

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Ayesha Billimoria is a three-time national champion (2001-03) in 200 metres race. She has represented Maharashtra for 17 years.When she was eight years old, she got into sports. During her school days, she played every sport including baseball, basketball, throwball, volley, and football.When she turned eleven, she fell in love with athletics and became a professional athlete at the age of 14.Ayesha has trained under world-class coaches in London, Africa, Germany and Australia; Gavin Dsouza being one of them.She was named Fastest Girl of India in her teens and has held many state and national titles.In 2003, she participated in the ICSE Athletics Meet and won two gold medals in 100m and 400m races, and a silver in the shot put event. It was through this tournament that ICSE Athletics Association recommended her to Adidas.She has captained the Adidas Runners Mumbai for many years and has represented Adidas in several national and international tournaments.At the end of 2000s, she got into a bike accident and suffered from partial paralysis because of it. Talking about her experience of those times, she said, That journey has been long. But for what happened in that accident, I think I suffered for many years. I refuse to believe when they say that you cant do this. Everyone said physically I was destroyednobody knew how strong my mind was..She didnt have a mentor for initial years of her recovery from her accident where she found herself been affected mentally. Later, she met Gavin, her first coach who instilled confidence to stand again.She dreamt of participating in Olympics but due to her injuries from the accident, she couldnt do that.