The 24-year-old wrote about her taekwondo career on Indian sports website The Bridge. 

She is aiming to reach Tokyo 2020 in the women's under-67 kilogram division through the Asian qualification tournament in Amman.

The dates for the qualifying event have yet to be announced, with the contest postponed from this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rescheduling of the Olympics to 2021. 

If successful, Barua will become the first Indian taekwondo athlete to compete at the Olympics. 

"I have set my target to qualify in the Olympics through the Asian qualification event, which I am preparing for," she said.

"Taking Indian taekwondo to Olympics is a long road, but I am ready to walk the extra mile to attain this goal."

Barua had claimed gold at the All-India University Games in 2017 and went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Summer World University Games in Chinese Taipei. 

A fine 2018 saw Barua triumph in the El Hassan Open and the World Taekwondo President's Cup Asia region before winning the India Open in 2019.

In the same year, she achieved a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Satdobato in Nepal. 

This year, Barua's opportunity to compete was hindered by the global health crisis.

She was able to train at a Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre, however, and benefited from this.

"I am taking a break right now," she said.

"During this lockdown, everyone has been sent to their home from SAI authorities. 

"I stayed over in SAI and practiced and work on my fitness for six-to-eight months in Bengaluru. 

"Since I was the only taekwondo player in SAI, the whole focus on training was on me, and I gained a lot of exposure through it. 

"I worked on my shortcomings at those sessions."

Taekwondo was first a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988, and has been a medal sport at every Games since Sydney 2000.

Latika Bhandari, Kashish Malik, Aman Kadyan, Navjeet Maan and Purva Dixit are other Indian athletes who are hopeful of competing in the taekwondo contest at the next edition of the Olympics, now scheduled for July 23 to August 8. 

Barua claimed more people were taking notice of taekwondo athletes from India. 

"Compared to earlier days, India has a lot of potential in taekwondo today with the coming generation actively taking interest in the sport," she said.

"We have gained plenty of exposure performing across the world. 

"Slowly people will recognise us taekwondo players, and we will make our presence felt by our performances."