Following on a very successful District level Skating Competition this year, in which 5 AVM students (plus 2 on standby) were selected for the State level Skating Competition, our team had practiced sincerely with inspiration from the hard work of our coach Mitesh Sir.
The much more competitive Gujarat State level Skating event was held in Surat from 23 to 25 October 2015. Team AVM constituted of Krishivbhai & Devbhai in the U-11 category, Krishbhai in the U-14 category and Shreeemadbhai & Praneshbhai in the U-17 category. The highly competitive nature of the event was further reflected by the fact that there were about 5-6 national players in all the age groups! Although being first timers, our team was all set to give a tough fight.
On 23rd October, there was a 1000 m race for all the groups that served as a qualifying event for the semi-finals. In their respective categories, our skaters put in respectable performances, but only Praneshbhai got qualified for the semi-finals. After resting for a while Praneshbhai got prepared for the semi-finals. In a very close contest, he lost the race by one second and secured the 9th position.
The following day, our team reported on the road at 6:00 am for the Road Race event. Although it was a bit chilly in the morning, all the skaters were very enthusiastic for the event in which only the first five positions would be considered qualified for the next round. Krishivbhai and Krishbhai secured 15th position, Devbhai secured 18th position, Shreemadbhai secured 9th position & Praneshbhai secured 6th position in their respective age groups.
Moving on, the next event was the Time Trials in the evening. It started sharp at 4:00 pm. This time around also, in a very tough competition, only Praneshbhai managed to secure the 6th position, very closely losing by one second.
After finishing the three races, all the quad skaters had finished their State tournament, except for Praneshbhai who still had a 500 m race to compete for. The next morning, our team reached on the rink to support and cheer Praneshbhai. Yet again, in a very tightly fought contest, he lost the semi-finals by one position.
All our skaters performed their best. And despite competing with 8 national players, Praneshbhai secured a commendable 7th position overall in his age group.
We are grateful to our coach Mitesh Sir for his guidance and hard work to help us prepare for the tournament. And we continue being very fortunate to have the grace of Param Pujya Swamiji in our lives, that constantly gives us the willingness to accept challenges that come our way with great enthusiasm.
Submitted by: Pranesh Patel (10A)
