The survivor of a school bus shooting on the Thai-Myanmar border 14 years ago which killed three children has set her eyes on gold at next month's Paralympics in Rio.
Wheelchair athlete Wijittra Jaion, 27, is currently undergoing gruelling daily training at the Sports Authority of Thailand headquarters in Ramkhamhaeng. To prepare for her table tennis event, she practises with able-bodied athletes for six hours, in addition to special weight sessions.
"I carry Thais' expectations," said the bronze medallist from the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea. "But I know that a moment like this does not come easily."
Wijittra is a fighter who refused to succumb to her fate. She is one of the victims of the Suan Phueng bus attack on June 4, 2002, in Ratchaburi province, 100km west of Bangkok.
Wijittra recalled the incident that changed her life forever. "I was on the school bus to Ban Kha Witthaya School. The bus was packed with 27 students. Suddenly, I heard very loud gunshots. Three gunmen shot at our school bus," she said.
The three men, suspected at the time to be Karen independence fighters, had opened fire with M-16 rifles. The bus driver tried to swerve out of the line of fire of the gunmen, who stepped out in front of the vehicle and sprayed it with bullets.
Three students died with more than 10 injured. But Wijittra was the only one left permanently handicapped, with no movement below the waste.
Eye on the ball: Wijittra Jaion will represent Thailand in table tennis.
To this day the perpetrators of the attack are not known. The fateful incident came when the Thai-Myanmar border area was still vulnerable to conflicts. However, the main Karen militia, the Karen National Union, denied any involvement.
Wijittra said she remembers everything that happened on that day. "I was shot in my stomach. My shirt was full of blood. Two other students were pulling me side by side and we ran from the bus to a nearby village.
"I was sent to a local hospital which immediately referred me to the provincial hospital because I was bleeding too much for them to handle."
Once she reached the provincial hospital, "I remember a big round light on the ceiling of the operating room. I remember telling the doctors not to cut my shirt before I passed out.
"I woke again in an ICU to learn that the bullets damaged the nerves in my back. The doctor told me that I would not be able to sit straight again."
She said was depressed to the point where she wanted to die but her father, a farmer, wouldn't give up on her. "He forced me to do physical therapy every day. He consulted everyone he knew to get the right treatment for me."
Wijittra was treated in hospital for five months.
After she left, she did not want to return to her studies at Ban Kha Witthaya School, but her family and friends encouraged her to go back. Wijittra was once a promising athlete and had excelled in sepak takraw and volleyball.
But she felt too depressed to leave her home. "I did not want to be a burden on anyone, so I didn't want to go out. People would look at me differently," she recalled.
Fateful day: Wijitra Jaion was 13 when she was wounded in the attack on a school bus in Ratchaburi that left three dead.
One year later, Khunying Kasama Vorawan na Ayudhaya, former education permanent secretary, arranged for Wijittra to attend Srisangwan School for students with disabilities in Nonthaburi province.
"I cried a lot. I did not want to leave my family. I always slept with my parents. But my father thought that I would be better off studying in Srisangwan School."
Her father was right. The school provided effective therapy until she could sit straight and live independently in a wheelchair. Srisangwan School students actively engage in activities. "I was surprised to see that students with physical limitations could still play various sports," she said.
One day, Wijittra saw a group of students playing table tennis and was inspired. "They looked very happy and noisy." From then on, she started practising table tennis.
She became a national player in 2005 and was selected to compete in Australia. Since then her star has risen, competing at multiple international tournaments with the highlight so far her bronze at the Asian Para Games.
She has now set her eyes on the gold at Rio, her first Paralympics event. She almost competed at the London Paralympics in 2012 but instead chose to finish her studies in information technology at Suan Dusit University. Wijittra has finished college and works at the Central Special Education Centre in Bangkok.
"I would like to apologise to my friends who will have to cover for me while I am away at the Paralympics. I hope what happened to me shows people who are suffering to look at me. We can do it."
The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held in Rio from Sept 7-18.