Rolling to glory: These artistic skaters are putting Chennai on global map

There is just one Corporation-run skating rink in the city that meets the size of international standards, where Chennai’s tiny community of roller skating enthusiasts gather every evening. From skaters as young as eight, up to the age of 21, a total of 15 youngsters on wheels make up for the city’s dedicated skating representatives at national and international competitions. Despite limited resources to practise the sport, these youngsters have been winning big at Asian and world championships for the past few years. These skaters are not only supporting each other to get better at the sport, but are also keen to encourage and train more youth to take up roller skating.

“All the national and international competitions are held at indoor wooden rinks, but all we have access to is one cement-floored outdoor rink at Shenoy Nagar. As it is the biggest rink in the city, we practise there even though it is smaller than the required standards. When it rains, we have to miss the practice. About 10-15 of us from the city perform artistic skating together and train for the championships,” says 21-year-old Arun Sathianarayanan, who has been performing the sport for over a decade.

City’s skaters had clinched a gold at the National Roller Skating Championship in 2018. They went ahead to win silver and bronze medals at the Asian Roller Skating Championships 2018 held at South Korea, and the world championships under various categories. While skating involves several forms, including ice figure skating and in-line free skating (which are distinguished by the kind of rink and skates used to perform), this group of skaters from Chennai specialise in artistic skating. Artistic roller skaters perform various dance movements and jumps — either as solo performers, pairs or quartets — to create a magical experience for the viewers.

“The problem we have been facing in our country is that we don’t have many coaches who specialise in different technical aspects of the sport, like the different movements it involves. With our parents’ support, we occasionally travel to Portugal and Italy, where we seek coaching from expert skaters. The sport is still developing in India, and does not enjoy much popularity. My aim is to improve the standard of skating in our country and help the future skaters,” laments Arun, who is also pursuing engineering from a city college.

Sujanitha Raghunathan, 19, who has also been skating for over a decade, says there is a need for more players to take up the sport for it to be recognised. “We’re trying to tell youngsters that roller skating is also a sport, that is not only challenging, but also rewarding. We see very few skaters in our country due to the misconception that it is not a sport. We have a lot of talent, but need more people to take up roller skating, so that we can represent the country on global platforms. After a few more years, I want to give back to the sport by teaching others,” adds Sujanitha, who has won solo dance and couple dance championships at national and international levels.