The State’s sports authority is busy preparing for the first-ever national event for roller-skating in Visakhapatnam to be held in December.
Last weekend, an open skating championship was organised by the Andhra Pradesh Roller Skating Association (APRSA) at the VUDA Park skating rink. About 500 athletes showed up to compete at in-line skating, speed skating, artistic skating and roller hockey competitions.
Roller skating had 500, 1000, and 1500 metre events; in-line had 10 kilometre, 15 kilometre track and road race events. There will be similar competitions each month till November before the final selection for the nationals.
Prasanna Kumar D, Vice President, Roller Skating Federation of India says, “The idea is to develop a competitive spirit, give opportunities to as many athletes as possible and select the best.” Kumar adds that there are plans to build infrastructure for skateboarding since it will début at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
The inclusion of roller skating at the world stage has also pushed the Government and parents alike to encourage their children. P Devi, mother of a 11-year-old skater says, “My son has improved so much in the last one year. We’ll motivate him to reach the world stage.” But the lack of infrastructure is a State-wide problem. Sainakar, mother of 10-year-old skater from Nellore says, “The VUDA Park skating rink is one of the better rinks in Andhra Pradesh. None in Nellore come close to this one.”
But even today, there are no indoor skating rinks in the State. Kumar says, “We are planning to cover the Shivaji Park skating rink with a shed so that monsoons don’t intervene with the skating sessions.”
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