Tania Choudhury at St Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, May 27: She started her sporting career at 13, an age when a section of the state sportspersons, especially girls, give up sport for the sake of studies. But, lawn bowler Tania Choudhury is an exception both in studies as well as beyond textbooks.

Of the 140, who secured first division from St Mary’s Higher Secondary School here, the 15-year-old is an exception because she has shone in both sport as well as studies proving that academics and extracurricular can go together. It is within the same year that she represented the nation in the apex platform of lawn bowls — Delhi Commonwealth Games — and came out with flying colours in the HSLC examinations, the results of which were announced today.

 

Choudhury, who missed a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games in October because of last minute change of rules by the organising committee, made best use of the three month’s time she could avail before the HSLC examinations to secure star marks and letter marks in Computer Science, English and General Science.

“She is a brilliant student and very committed in every aspect of her life. We feel proud of her,” the school’s sister superior Grace Ottalanka said. “I think, she can continue to excel in both sport as well as her academic career,” she said.

Assam Olympic Association joint secretary Anup Choudhury, who is Tania’s father, took the Class VIII student to the lawn bowls green in 2008 when the Assam Lawn Bowling Association launched a drive for the first time to groom players. Within three years, the teenager has become a mainstay in the Indian squad, touring across Asia as well as Australia.

Before taking her HSLC examinations, Tania was in the Indian coaching camp here as well as in Delhi from February 2009, when she was a Class IX student, till the end of the CWG in October last year. Back home after the Commonwealth Games, she participated in the state meet and got selected for the Jharkhand National Games in February, where she fetched a bronze medal for Assam.

“She could not attend classes for the last two years. However, she was doing well in her exams. Still, we advised her parents to give her a year’s time to prepare for the HSLC exams. However, she returned from Delhi to appear in the selection test and fared very well. So, we gave her the go ahead and she came out with this result,” the sister superior said.

“As she had a hectic sporting schedule for the last two years, I asked her if she would take the examination and she said, she was prepared for it. She was confident. So, we decided to let her appear for the exams,” father Anup Choudhury said.

A beaming Tania told The Telegraph, “I am not very studious. I used to take little time out of my hectic sport schedule to study for the exams. After appearing in the exams, I thought I was nowhere near my classmates. I was expecting good marks in English and science.”

Disclosing her mantra, Tania said: “Since I missed the classes and there was no scope for notes or private tuition. I preferred to go through the textbooks thoroughly which came handy because the question were all from the books.”

Unlike her friends in school, Tania has set herself the aim of achieving the highest honours in lawn bowls.

but she was yet to determine her academic career. “The only thing I know now is to try for CBSE course in the Plus II level and do well there before deciding on professional degree course.”