Sharanya Bags Two Medals at Asian Roller Skating Championship
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore (SR/AF)
Mangalore Jul 30: Sharanya Mahesh, member of Mangalore Roller Skating Club has created history by bagging two bronze medals at the 14th Asian Speed Roller Skating Championship held at Taipei, China between Friday July 16 and Sunday July 25.
A first-year degree student of St Aloysius College,Sharanya qualified for the selection trials based on her earlier performance at the 45th and 46th nationals wherein she won individual championship title and gold medal, respectively. She also participated in World Roller Skating Championship in 2005.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Jessy Maria D’Souza, convener of Mangalore Roller Skating Club said that the talented skater has had to spend a substantial amount in her journey to international fame. Her roller skates alone cost her Rs 80,000 as they had to meet international standards. In addition, her family spent almost a lac on other materials, traveling and miscellaneous expenses.
She futher said that when Sharanya's father looked for sponsorship, the banks refused stating that they supported only events that were crowd-pullers and that skating was a sport not encouraged even by the national and state governments. So far, only three skaters from the country have been selected for international championships, therefore, according to them it was not viable for sponsorship.
She added that Sharanya had won two bronze medals despite poor facilities and unhygenic condition of the rooms provided to her.
Former skating national champion Lester D’Souza said that in India talent is neither recognised at a young age nor allowed to grow freely which is making the country suffer from lack of good athletes in less popular sporting events.
Secretary of Mangalore roller skates association Mahesh Kumar was present.