Professional skater Pankaj Khandodiya Prajapati, 24, leaves his house in Gurugram around 3.30 a.m. and travels nearly 30 km to reach Shanti Path in central Delhi. Flanked by Embassies and High Commissions, the smooth stretch of road is a perfect track for the inline speed skater.
“I come all the way from Gurugram because the road here is smooth and has few cars in the morning . I can comfortably do my sprint practice here,” says Mr. Prajapati, who represented India at the World Championships in 2016 (China) and 2018 (Namwon, South Korea).
He can go from 0-73 km/h within 15 seconds on a straight road. “We do not have access to many facilities as the Haryana government has blocked our award money for the last three years. It is very problematic for us as it is quite an expensive sport,” he says. A pair of professional inline skates can cost around ₹55,000.
Inline speed skating is a sub-discipline of inline skating. Typically, inline skates have two to five wheels arranged in a single line on the underside of the boot. The design allows for greater speed and manoeuvrability compared to quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels.
Mr. Prajapati is one of several professional skaters, many of them national or State-level champions, who flock to Shanti Path to hone their skills. The skaters have chalked out a 3.9 km-loop out of which roughly 1 km is on Shanti Path. The athletes start from Nehru park gate no. 1 and pass by the Australian High Commission followed by the Embassy of Japan and then the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic Of Ethiopia.
They take several rounds of the loop in a two-and-a-half-hour routine that starts around 4.00 a.m.
Nineteen-year-old Rachita Juneja, a final-year BA History (hons.) student from Hansraj college, has been skating since she was five and has been coming to Shanti Path for the last three years. Ms. Juneja has taken part in two World Championships and one Asian Championship. Her sight is now firmly set on the 2022 Asian Games.
“I used to do quad skating but shifted to inline skating. I used to be a national champion in quad skating, but in inline skating I am second or third. Becoming a national inline skating champion is my goal. I have won 70 medals till now, which includes CBSE school nationals (School Games Federation of India) and Roller Skating Federation of India competitions. I have my eyes set on the 2022 Asian Games. My top speed is 54-55 km/h,” says the athlete who won silver in relay race at the 18th Asian Roller Skating Championship in Namwon, South Korea.
Ms. Juneja, who is from Karnal in Haryana, came to the Capital after getting admission in Delhi University. Her parents come to her skating session on Shanti Path every time. There is no barricading of streets by the police and it is up to the athletes and their family members to ensure safety.
“We come to Shanti Path around 4 a.m... The circuit we have here resembles our banked track. We have national-level competitions that happen both on circuit and banked tracks. We come here especially for circuit practice. In every city there are straight roads, but this stretch is also free of potholes,” she says.
Funding problem
“We have two types of races: road race and rink race. In rink race, we have a 200-metre banked track. For road race, we sometimes have a circuit and sometimes straight roads, if there is unavailability of circuit. Shanti Path helps us practise for both short 3,000-metre race and long 10,000 metre-race. Road practice for 30 km and 40 km races is done smoothly here,” she adds.
Her father Ravi Juneja said the Haryana government had amended its sports policy withdrawing cash award for roller sports. “The sport had been eligible for cash awards for 15 years, but in the new policy, only those sports are eligible for cash award which are included either in the Asian Games, the Olympics, or the Commonwealth Games.”
“Inline speed skating was part of the 2018 Asian Games, but we still have not received award from last three years. We met senior officials in the Haryana sports department and submitted proof that inline speed skating was part of the 2018 Asian Games. But still there is no response,” he said.
Sixteen year-old Raj Raman, a national-level champion skater, says he comes to Shanti Path as there is little traffic in the morning and the area is safe due to the numerous embassies nearby.
Besides Shanti Path, the skaters sometimes practise on the stretch between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate.
