Past hardship, skater Rayudu rolls on

Three-time Asian medallist prepares for busy season and trains kids to boost earning.

“Body bend, Tanmay, body bend,” Arun Rayudu yells out instructions to one of the pupils. Rayudu, a 15-time national skating champion from Vizag, is spending a weekday evening training kids at the city’s Decathlon centre. Not that the 22-year-old is close to giving up the sport himself; in fact, the artistic roller skater has a busy season ahead comprising the Asian Championships, World Roller Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games, where the discipline makes a return after 2010.

Arun Rayudu

But trimming precious hours off his own training schedule to teach four days a week at Rs1,500 per kid per month is something Rayudu has been compelled to do of late. His recently-retired father’s savings, from which Rayudu extracts money to fund his skating career, is fast drying up.

“Something is better than nothing, right?” Rayudu says. “This way I can promote the sport and have a little pocket money, at least.”

Rayudu is a three-time Asian Championships medallist—he won silver and bronze in pair in the 2016 edition and another silver in 2018—and was No. 5 in the artistic pair event in the junior category of the 2017 World Roller Games. In the national championship held by the Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI) last December, Rayudu increased his domestic medals tally with gold in the artistic pair event, partnering Farheen Shaik, apart from medals in other categories.

Be it travelling within the country for national tournaments or overseas for Asian and world events, Rayudu has been relying on money from his father, who worked as an executive director in Vizag Steel Plant. Last year, Rayudu said, the Andhra government started awarding cash prizes for national medal winners from the state. However, prior to that, Rayudu—as indeed other professional skaters in the country—“didn’t get a single penny” from any government or private organisation.

“It’s a big reason why professional skating is not popular in India, because only the people who can afford it can last. Just because my dad could afford it, I am here,” he says. “It’s out of passion and love towards skating that we continue to do it, pushing hard to get a medal for India.”

Rayudu is also pushing hard to seal the spot in the Indian contingent for the Asian Games in the artistic individual and pair events (no date for the trials have yet been announced). His other key assignments this year are the World Roller Games in Argentina in October before the Asian Championships, where he targets the elusive gold.

According to Rayudu, a trip to compete in an Asian event can cost around Rs1-1.5lakh—including travel, lodging and food expenses—while the figure can almost double for a world event if it’s held in South America or Europe. The skaters also usually attend camps prior to a competition, perhaps the only time they can look to control costs—travelling by train or sharing rental accommodation, for example. “Sometimes when we go for camps lasting half a month, 2-3 of us stay in one place and share the rent,” he says.

High equipment costs

But while quality of stay can be compromised on, equipment cannot. “You have to have the best to give your best,” Rayudu says.

Equipment is not only expensive but also needs to be imported from Italy. One pair of skates can cost around Rs1.5 lakh and while they last for 3-4 years, its wheels and bearings require frequent replacements. “Even if there’s a small damage, we have to place an order from Italy. One pair of new wheels can cost ₹10,000-20,000, and that’s apart from the customs, tax and courier charges,” Rayudu says.

It doesn’t help that the country does not have a single indoor wooden rink, the standard surface used in international competitions. Indian skaters go about their business on rinks with Kota stone flooring; most of them being outdoors and therefore also impacted by weather. The wear and tear of the skates hastens on these rougher surfaces. “Plus, there are subtle changes in the use of wheels and technique while landing when we perform on the wooden floor. They play a big role in affecting the performance at the top level,” says Rayudu, who trains in Vizag with coach Pavan Kumar, a former national champion and international skater.

Rolling on despite challenges

Financial and infrastructural obstacles, though, have not deterred Rayudu from skating. He started when he was three, attracted by speed. “As a kid, I would sit on my dad’s lap and tell him to overtake cars,” he says.

Diagnosed with asthma since birth, the doctors advised his parents to get him enrolled in physically demanding activities to help increase his lung capacity. “So my mom put me into skating. Even though I was young, I would race with the seniors,” Rayudu says. At the age of five, he won his first gold medal in an under-6 state meet, pushing on at rapid pace from there at the state and national circuit.

Rayudu’s first major international gig came at the 2014 Asian Championships in China where he finished fourth in pair. Three years later after completing his 12th, he earned a seat at the National Institute of Technology (NIT). Rayudu let that pass, choosing to motor along in skating while pursuing his B.Tech from a city-based college instead. “Many people suggested me to take that seat. But I thought lakhs of students graduate from NIT, whereas only a few lucky ones get the opportunity to represent the country and win medals for it,” he says.

Rayudu targets to do exactly that in the major events lined up this year. “I want to leave a legacy in skating, achieve things that will make young skaters look up to you,” he says.

For now, they are listening to him as Rayudu juggles between teaching and preparing himself to have a crack at winning medals.