Sri rocks, Anup Yama rolls

The 30-year-old couldn’t quite contain his joy. “It means a lot to me. You can’t imagine how badly I needed this. It’s a huge recognition,” Anup added in short bursts, catching buoyant breath in between.

He had longed for this indeed, having achieved a long list of laurels in a sport that was alien to most Indians when he took to it 26 years ago. For the record, Anup has won the gold and bronze medals at World Championships to go with the 8 golds, 5 silvers and 9 bronzes at the Asian level besides almost 200 medals won at the national and state levels that are stacked in his trophy cabinet.

Skating seems smooth but there is a hazardous rough and tumble that those practising it go through. Anup has been through the bumps and taken his share of injuries on his chin. “The sport’s so unpredictable. It’s about maintaining your balance and poise at literally break-neck speeds. You could damage yourself badly if you are slightly off the track,” he says. There’s ample evidence. “I’ve suffered stitches on my chin, upper lip, wrist, both shins; broken ribs, torn ligaments, twisted

ankles. They all seem worth it now,” he beams.

His biggest medal — the World gold in Taiwan, 2013 — was literally taken out of his rib. That’s his life partner now. Three hours before his final performance, Anup suffered a serious setback while practising a triple spin (which required him to spin thrice in the air and land on one leg). “One of my wheels got caught in a slight crack on the floor and threw me about six feet away. I landed on my left side and broke my upper rib. I was rushed to the hospital where my upper body was plastered. I had trouble breathing out — figure skating is linked hugely to breath that controls your rhythm — but came back to complete my three-minute-15 seconds routine and was thrilled to win the top medal,” he says.

“That particular rib protrudes a bit even now, whenever I have my chest up, reminding me that it was with me when I won my biggest medal,” he laughs. “Some injuries are nice in a way.”

However, Anup started very smoothly. “I was three-and-a-half years old when my father took me to the Exhibition grounds in Hyderabad where a skating demonstration was on. People were surprised to me rolling pretty well on the first day itself. I liked the sport but it was not until I turned six that I could actually pronounce its name,” he chuckles.

Anup owes a lot to his father Veeresh, who went the extra mile to provide him all support. “He’s been my father, coach, mentor, everything. He’d supervise me skate for six hours a day, into equal shifts in morning and evening,” Anup says.

“My mother too has contributed a lot. Waking us up at 3.30-4 am and getting us ready for practice... and my brother Amar was always by my side in the rink,” Anup recalls.

The family took so much pride in Anup’s exploits that they uprooted the lawn in their house in West Marredpally and laid a skating rink! Earlier, Anup rolled against the odds. “I used to skate at function halls. Sometimes we used to wait for the marriage celebrations to get over, clean the floor and skate late at night,” he says, adding, “the Arya Vaishya Abhyudaya Sangham on Penderghast Road was my go-to place — it had a smooth, marble floor.” At 15, Anup took part in his first World championships. That was in 1999, Australia, where he finished last among 35 skaters. He’s rocked and rolled since.