Manish Sivakumar, a 13-year-old artistic roller skater, has won 36 medals in the last five years at the Asian, National, State and District level. He has now been selected to participate in the 54th National Roller Sports Championship in Noida, New Delhi, to be held from February 1-5, 2017. He began skating at the age of eight and is currently a student of Class VIII at St. Andrews School, Bowenpally.
He loves to slip on his skates after school and trains at the Yama Skating Academy in West Marredpally under the world champion skater, Anup Kumar Yama and his brother Amar Nag Yama.
Anup and Amar, say, “He is our rock star! We are proud to train him and we’re confident that he will participate in the World Championship someday.”
Manish participates in freestyle, pairs, couple dance and solo dance in competitions. He says, “I love skating and I train for six hours a day. My coaches are my inspiration and I want to pursue skating full-time in the future. My family and friends have been very supportive. I’m confident that I’ll win at the National Championship.”
What does he love about the sport? “I love jumping and spinning! It’s the best feeling. I don’t feel like doing anything else other than going to my academy to skate, after school.”
Manish manages to get good grades despite his gruesome training schedule. “My grandfather was into skating. That’s encouraged me to take it up too. My parents never stopped me when I told them I wanted to take up extra-curricular activities,” he says.
Manish, who has won one Asian level gold medal, four National level medals, 14 State level medals and 16 District level medals, aims to compete in the World Artistic Roller Skating Championship.
His parents, Sivakumar Velayudham and Mahalakshmi, encouraged him to pursue this interest because they could see the joy with which their son approached his skates.
Mahalakshmi says, “I go to the academy with him every day. He makes us proud.” His father adds, “I think every parent should encourage their kids when they show interest in some activity. However, the funding has been tough. We managed to fund him for the Asian Championship, but we are now running a crowdfunding campaign for the 54th National Roller Sports Championship.”
