I.R. Medvin Deva is a hero in school. There is a grand, flex cut-out of him at the gate; his principal is all praise for him. So are his friends. The reason — the eight-year-old has entered the Asian Book of Records, India Book of Records, and Tamil Nadu Book of Records for limbo skating. In the sport, the participant with roller skates manoeuvres his / her body under an obstacle with legs wide apart and upper body bent forward.
Medvin has managed to skate with his body nine inches from the ground over a distance of 45 mt in 11 seconds. He performed the feat in front of an audience that comprised students from his school CSI Ewart Matriculation Higher Secondary, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium recently. Medvin is nonchalant about his achievement; he hop-skips his way to the interview and shrugs when asked what he thinks of it. He likes to skate for the thrill of the speed — he has been in the sport since he was three.
Perseverance pays“We enrolled him for classes since he didn’t have any friends in our flat,” says his father Raju. What started a leisurely activity has landed the kid in the Record books. Raju says that he plans to apply for his son to enter the Guinness World Records. The current record is being held by a 12-year-old from Karnataka who skated for 10 mt with a height constraint of 10 inches. Medvin has been performing limbo skating under an SUV for the last two years, explains his father.
The training was strenuous and Medvin went through it all without batting an eyelid. He starts training at 5 a.m. every day under his coach K.P. Unnikrishnan at Anna Nagar Roller Skating Club. Limbo skating can get dangerous — Raju says there were times when his son suffered bruises on his face and thighs. “I would ask him to drop the whole thing, but he didn’t want to stop till he got what he wanted,” he says. Medvin adds that the training did cause him pain. “But I had my knee-pads on and didn’t stop,” he says.
Medvin’s aim as of now is “to become a champion” — he wants to attempt to limbo skate over 50 mt. For him, the best thing about his entering the Asian Book of Records is the accolades he received from his close friends Clement, Joshua, and Mohammed. He says: “They said ‘super! semmaya senja’ (you did really well).”