Skating on the wheels of success

In the last five years, artistic roller skater, Kairavi Falguni Thakkar hasn’t gone on a vacation nor has she missed a single day of practice. Clearly, her efforts have paid off.  Apart from winning close to 50 medals at various levels in the country, she just added another one to her list — the silver medal in the solo dance category at the 54th National Artistic Roller Skating Championship that was held recently.

There was a time when she cringed at the thought of even going to practice. “In the first two years, I kept falling down and hurting myself. I did not like that and I never felt like going to practice,” says the 17-year-old student of Indus Universal School in Hyderabad. From then until now, Kairavi has won several competitions but the major change happened when she moved to Hyderabad from Mumbai.

“In Mumbai, this sport was more of a hobby for me. It was when I came to Hyderabad five years ago that I realised how serious this sport was,” says Kairavi, who trains at the Yama Skating Academy.

Unfortunately, artistic roller skating has very few takers. “I was attracted to ballet as a kid. I used to be a speed skater but one gets hurt a lot and there is also a lot of blood loss. Then my mother put me into artistic skating that has  two things I love the most — dance and skating,” she explains.

Even now, the challenges remain the same. A few years ago, a bad fall during a competition busted her knee and left her in terrible pain. The damage was permanent and every time she overworks herself, the pain returns.

“Living with it is quite difficult, so I need to be conscious about how much I push myself,” says Kairavi, who now practices for two hours in the morning and the evening.

“Our sport rarely receives funding. If we want sponsors, we have to go looking for them. When we win a tournament we are given around `2,000 which is barely enough for anything. Funding is a major issue for us, and we get no help from the government, we have to pay for everything from our pocket,” adds Kairavi, who aims to become a psychologist.

Currently, the 17-year-old is gearing up for the selection for the Artistic Skating World Championship.

“Those who won at the national level will now compete again in May. Two skaters will be selected to represent India under each age group and if I make it, I’ll strive to make my country proud,” says Kairavi.