Khelo India Winter Games: Ice skaters dazzle for TN as state finishes second in first leg

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu contingent finished the first leg of the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) on a high in Leh. With five medals (three gold and two silver), TN are second on the table.
On Sunday, TN’s Avikshit Vijay clinched gold by clocking 51.45 seconds in the men’s speed skating long track 500m event, while his statemate Selva Kumar (54.03s) came second.
Later, D Yashashree (58s) added a gold to the state’s tally in the women’s speed skating long track 500m event. Avikshit, who has won multiple medals in inline skating, participated in his maiden Winter Games.
“It feels great to win a medal in a sport that is very underrated in the country. The condition in the final was not ideal as the ice was melting due to extreme heat. The level of competition was not high as several senior skaters are training for the Asian Winter Games,” Avikshit told TOI.
Avikshit began to focus on ice skating only three months ago. In a short period of time, the 18-year-old adapted himself to the sport. “I wanted to try ice skating as it has good potential and is an Olympic sport. The motivation to pick ice skating came when I saw many inline skaters training for ice skating competitions.”
The youngster went on to add that there is not much difference between inline and ice skating. Many athletes train for inline skating during summer and then shift to ice skating in winter.
“The technicalities are not very different. However, there are a few things which matter a lot; the way you push, the way you pull your leg over the other in the corners and the crosses (in ice skating). I was training under Olympian Gerd Cooper in the Netherlands, and he helped me improve. From the experience that I gained from the coach, I communicated them to my teammates, who were training in Gulmarg for KIWG.”