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Hyderabad skaters make a mark at Winter Asian Games
In a country which is obsessed with cricket, two Hyderabadis made a mark in a rare sport – figure skating -- which very few take up with passion. Figure skaters from the city of pearls, Anup Kumar Yama and Aldrin Mathew, represented the country in the Winter Asian Games 2017 at Sapporo, Japan along with Nikhil Pingle in a competition which saw participation of teams from 24 nations.
Hyderabad: In a country which is obsessed with cricket, two Hyderabadis made a mark in a rare sport – figure skating -- which very few take up with passion. Figure skaters from the city of pearls, Anup Kumar Yama and Aldrin Mathew, represented the country in the Winter Asian Games 2017 at Sapporo, Japan along with Nikhil Pingle in a competition which saw participation of teams from 24 nations.
The Winter Asian Games, which started on February 19, will come to an end on Sunday. Though the Indian team finished seventh in the ice-dance competition, there is a sense of contentment among them that they could rub shoulders with players so good at the sport, which saw participation of nearly 2,000 players.
Anup Kumar and Aldrin Elizabeth, both from the city, faced tough conditions to make it to the international level. Anup and Aldrin have several laurels under their belt. The Arjuna award winner, Anup Kumar, is the first Indian to win a gold medal in the World Roller-Skating Championship in Chinese Taipei in 2013.
The very next year, he won bronze medal in World Artistic Championship in Spain in 2014. He won two bronze medals at the 2010 Asian Games. He bagged eight golds, five silvers and nine bronzes at the Asian level. The city-based skater participated in 11 Asian championships and 15 world championships.
He is a legend in Asian roller-skating championship being the only Indian to hold 80 gold medals at the district level and 80 at national level, 8 medals at Asian level and one at world level.
“We ended the Asian Winter Games 2017 with a lot of learning. While we are pretty new to ice skating and having great potential with ice rinks in India, we are sure to have a rocking time and bring back India a lot of laurels and accolades!!! For now, we are taking back a lot of learning, knowledge, and experience to be shared with the Indian Skaters. See you all soon guys. Let's rock!!!,” writes Anup Kumar on his face book account.
Aldrin Elizabeth, a student of Mass Communication of Loyola Academy Degree & PG College, has won several national medals in pair-skating, solo and ice-dance categories in state-level championship attended till date and stood fourth in the Malaysian national championships. She reached semi-finals in India’s Got Talent, a reality show. Aldrin took part in the ice-dance event-- a discipline in figure-skating with her pair Anup Kumar Yama.
Speaking to The Hans India, Aldrin said, “This is the first time India has participated in the Winter Asian Games. It was an amazing experience. It gave us new hope and set higher goals for India. I am very proud to be a part of it. In the first segment of ice-dance competition, we performed on blues and in the second, free dance we did on Bollywood number with an aim to showcase Indian culture at the championship, which everybody loved and appreciated.”
“It was the first time that India participated in the ice rink of international level, yet we gave a clean performance that kept the country’s head held high. It was a huge task for us and a new experience to compete with the Olympians and yet we did well. We did not get any medal since they are all trained pair of dancers and we are all solo figure-skaters but still we stood with a practice of 8 days in Indonesia to represent the country. We were trained by coach Agus in Indonesia.”
Speaking about how she kept her spirits high during championships, Aldrin said, “This is what I love to do and I am determined to do this. I want to learn more and practice hard, bring more laurels to the country and then become a coach to help the upcoming younger generation. This is my aim and also a sportsperson never gives up no matter what comes.”
Lack of an official coach for the sport is one of the reasons for not registering good result. The Indian team could sustain the competition with able mentorship from the triple gold test-certified figure skating coach from Candada, Judy Lowrie. She has provided private ice-skating lessons to students from several countries, including India.
