10-year-old Navi Mumbai resident wins gold at State-level skateboard meet

Shiok Deshmukh of Seawoods Sector New 50 in Navi Mumbai has won gold medal at the State-level skateboard championship and is preparing to represent Maharashtra in the National meet next month

Ten-year-old Shiok Deshmukh, a resident of Seawoods Sector New 50, has won the State-level skateboard championship held last Sunday at Carter Road in Bandra.

Shiok Deshmukh of Navi Mumbai, who won gold in State-level skateboard meet recently. (HT PHOTO)

This was the first time that he participated in a State-level competition. Before this, he had participated just once in a local competition organised in Nerul.

A Class 4 student of Goldcrest High School, Deshmukh has been training for the last two-and-a-half years at Nerul skatepark.

“When I was in Canada, I had seen students carrying skateboards to schools and colleges. Skateboarding there is a means of transportation too. Hence, once when I found a skateboard in a toy shop on sale, I asked if he would be interested in having it. Since then, he has always been skateboarding, doing various tricks,” his father, Vishlesh Deskmukh, who is a social media marketing professional, said.

In the beginning, when he got the skateboard, he managed the basics all alone at the age of eight, and later started training under a coach to learn the new tricks.

“The thrill, the jumps and the stunts attached to the sport is what I like the most. The sport in itself is very exciting. While my building friends prefer to play cricket, I choose this sport and go to the skate park every day for one hour for practice,” Shiok said.

This is the first year wherein the Olympics included skateboarding as a sport and hence his father feels that the sport has now got recognition and credibility. “He intends to take up a career as well on this sport,” his father said.

On December 16, he would be representing Maharashtra in the under-11 age group category at the National Championship organised by Roller Skating Federation of India.