He was just in class V when he went to Nainital to spend vacations with his family. In the evening when the family visited the club house of Nainital, some people were skating which attracted the eye of this teenager.
To add to his excitement and interest, the birthday gift he received from a friend the same month was a pair of skates. And thus the seeds of becoming an international skating champ of Vatsal Saxena were sown at that tender age.
In a conversation with this correspondent, Vatsal said, “I used to practice at home with those new pair of skates but did not know any technique until I was in the CBSE championship held in Ghaziabad for the first time, when I was in class VII and sent by my school DPS Ranipur to participate in the championship.
There I met my future mentor Shantanu Manglik, who is teaching me till now. He is preparing me for Singapore city Asian roller sports at present.” Like every success story there were many initial misses before he got the gold medal in national championship held in Mumbai.
Though he did not get any award in CBSE championship, he kept on practicing at home. In class VIII, he won the first district skating championship and then in the series bagged gold medal at state level. Then there was no looking back.
It is worth mentioning here that the cost of a pair of skates ranges from Rs 500 to a few lakh. With the help of the state government, he got a pair of skates worth Rs 40,000 when he got selected for national championship. “My coach is consistently teaching me how to improve my techniques in skating.
I got chance to participate in Indo Nepal skating championship where I won gold medal again.
The best part was that my name was included in Limca Book of World records for non-stop skating for 42 kilometres in Sonepat three years ago,” shares Vatsal.
Telling about his future goals, he said, “I am practicing for Singapore City Asian Roller Sports championship which is slated to be held in December this year.
This year is my board exam so that is my focus too but I wish to achieve the best in the international championship.” This 17 year old has already started coaching young skating enthusiasts in the city at skating rink of BHEL international club and basketball ball courts of different schools and his dream is to join the merchant navy.
