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Two Pune skaters get top spots at National Games
Two skateboarders - Shraddha Gaikwad, 17; and Shubham Surana, 22 - have done the city proud by winning a gold and a silver medal, respectively, at the 36th National Games 2022 being held in Ahmedabad after a gap of seven years (usually held after every four years but delayed further due to Covid-19)
Two skateboarders - Shraddha Gaikwad, 17; and Shubham Surana, 22 - have done the city proud by winning a gold and a silver medal, respectively, at the 36th National Games 2022 being held in Ahmedabad after a gap of seven years (usually held after every four years but delayed further due to Covid-19).
Gaikwad, who brought home the gold, said, “I can’t thank enough the many people who have helped me in pursuing my passion and love for this sport. My father used to be a security guard at Decathalon, Wagholi, and I would often deliver lunch to him when I saw some people on the trial skateboards. When they couldn’t skateboard and left, I tried to skate and soon got my balance, and learnt the basics. After I got my father’s permission to hang around and use the trial boards, I would practise at the Decathalon premises. One day the manager approached me. Initially, I thought he was going to scold me but he only wanted to give me a new skateboard and new shoes as I used to often skate barefoot or in slippers. It is the belief and love of these people that saw me travelling as far as J M road, Sus road and Bavdhan to practise with my coach, who taught me all the tricks to cross obstacles and do my best.”
Surana, who bagged the silver, is a resident of Swargate. “We were eight athletes with Gaikwad being the only female participant. We began practising at J M road and later at Sus-Pashan road, which is a good space with obstacles for us to practise our tricks. However, we need a bigger facility with proper obstacles as per national and international standards, integrating street elements like a proper skate park which will be a dream come true,” Surana said.
Both Gaikwad and Surana owe their success, at least in part, to Dinkar Gojare, executive engineer, road department, PMC, who, in the course of his work, stumbled upon a few of the 100-odd skaters often seen skating at Jungli Maharaj road and decided to develop the Sus-Pashan road specially for them to practise daily.
Gojare said, “It was 2021 when I was overseeing the road according to the new design when I saw about 15 young adults skateboarding and found that they lacked adequate facilities needed for this sport. During that time, the road development department was implementing the road design on the Sus-Pashan road under ‘street for people’. I discussed the concept of developing a skate park under the said project with V G Kulkarni and Kunal Khemnar, both of whom wholly supported the idea. We designed a 150 metre track in accordance with the skaters’ inputs so that they could practise here. Today, it makes the PMC proud that two of these children have brought accolades to the city and that we played a small part in their winning the gold and silver at the ongoing national-level competition at Ahmedabad.”
Swapnil Magar, a skater himself and Gaikwad’s coach, said, “It is indeed a proud feeling that the student I mentored and trained has brought us a gold medal. We began practicing at the Jungli Maharaj road, with Gaikwad coming here all the way from Wagholi. She is very spirited and keen on boarding.”
“While we were practising, we met Gojare sir who was interested in the sport and very knowledgeable and took our inputs while developing a skating track for us to practise. We really like this place but it is a small space. We also practise a lot at a private skating rink in Bavdhan but it would be nice if the municipal authorities built a public rink where everyone can practise. All the big cities have one and it will attract many more students and skateboard enthusiasts to join if there is such a space,” Magar said.
