Janwaar Castle, Madhya Pradesh’s lone skateboard park, will host the state’s first skateboarding challenge on November 12-14, with children from across the country expected to participate.
To be held in Panna district’s Janwaar village, around seven km from the district headquarters, the championship has two age categories — 6-12 years and 12-16 years — and is being supported by top skateboarders from across the world as well as Madhya Pradesh Tourism. The challenge has already received 44 confirmed registrations from Kerala, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Delhi and Pune.
“In India, older skateboarders have a great connect, but the younger ones do not have any platform to connect with each other,” Ulrike Reinhard, who organised the championship, said.
“Also, this championship will be held annually from now on and we will build another skatepark between Panna and Khajuraho. Basically, we are trying to build a team to represent India in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games,” she said.
Reinhard said an HT report on skateboarding by tribal children helped create awareness about the park across the world.
“The concept and impact of Janwaar Castle reached millions of people and we were able to connect with international skateboarders. We started receiving emails, messages and calls from everywhere. The concept also reached Nyjah Huston, one of the biggest names in international skateboarding… When we told him about our coming championship, he agreed to be part of it,” she said.
Huston won’t be able to make it for the championship itself but has promised to visit the park soon afterwards.
{{/usCountry}}Huston won’t be able to make it for the championship itself but has promised to visit the park soon afterwards.
{{/usCountry}}“We wanted him to witness the performance of Indian children but he had prior engagements. But he will be coming later in November and the winner of the championship will get to skate for one whole day with him in our park,” said Mannan, a volunteer.
However, Huston’s visit is not all fun and games — the seven-time X-Games gold medallist and his mother Kelle founded charity organisation Let It Flow, which makes water accessible to communities across the world.
“All these issues are on Janwaar Castle’s priority list as well. We’ve just implemented a solar-powered water and electricity system, and with the help of Let It Flow, we can now finish the job, which would mean no shortage of drinking water in the entire village. Around a thousand people will directly benefit from these efforts,” Reinhard said.