Leh, Jan 24 (IANS) When figure skating debuted at the Khelo India Winter Games 2026 in Ladakh, it signified more than just a new sport; it represented the emergence of a long-awaited national platform. At the heart of this moment was Abhijith Amal Raj from Kerala, who ultimately secured gold in the men’s advanced figure skating category, achieving a significant personal milestone.

Abhijith’s presence in Ladakh carried significance well beyond a single competition. He is among India’s most distinguished artistic figure skaters, a world champion in artistic roller skating, winning gold at the 2019 World Roller Skating Championship, as well as medals at the Asian Roller Skating Championships in 2023 and 2025, and at the World Skate Oceania and Pacific Cup in 2023. Nevertheless, his participation in the Khelo India Winter Games 2026 marked a different milestone: a return to ice figure skating and an opportunity to compete on a prominent national stage at home.

Abhijith’s journey began early: he was skating before he could talk and began formal lessons at age three. In coastal Kerala, however, ice skating was rare and hard to access. The high costs of gear, coaching, and facilities transformed his potential into a challenge of perseverance and money. His father committed all his resources to support his training.

By age nine, Abhijith was already being trained by Arjuna awardee Anup Kumar Yama and later received coaching from Luca d’Alisera, an 11-time Artistic Roller Skating World Champion and international coach. This training required travelling to Italy and cost 100 Euros per hour, four hours daily, amounting to lakhs for just one month. To afford this, his family sold property and moved into rented housing. While government support arrived later, Abhijith’s career was fundamentally built on years of financial hardship and personal sacrifice.

Before becoming a world champion in artistic roller skating, Abhijith had already established a strong background in ice figure skating. In 2014, he won gold at the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy in Taiwan, the Dubai Golden Cup, and the Malaysian Open National Championship, and earned national titles in 2013 and 2014. He also achieved another international gold medal in Malaysia in 2016 before shifting his main focus to roller skating, where he ultimately became a world champion. His gold medal in figure skating at the Khelo India Winter Games 2026 signalled his return to ice skating after nearly ten years.

Abhijith’s story highlights the difficulties niche sports like figure skating encounter in India. Historically, significant advancements in sports such as figure skating depended on training abroad, access to rinks, coaching, and competitions, which many families couldn’t afford. Now, at only 24, Abhijith is dedicated to transforming that situation.

Together with his figure skating partner, Vacasya Lakshmi Narayanan, a gold medalist (Artistic Partner) at the 2025 Asian Roller Skating Championship, he co-founded Adler Vision. The academy, based in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, has been training future athletes across India and has enrolled over 100 students in its two years of operation.

They have invited international coaches such as Luca d’Alisera and Rachele Campagnol from Italy so that young skaters can gain exposure without leaving the country. The program starts with roller skating with the ultimate goal of transitioning athletes to figure skating, both on roller and ice. This prepares them for national platforms like Khelo India.

Abhijith says that at the academy, they “start with roller skating, and based on a skater’s interest and performance, they can move into ice skating or continue to excel in roller skating.”

“Our skaters have already participated in multiple national and state-level roller skating competitions, and with platforms like Khelo India, we plan to send select skaters to upcoming ice skating championships,” Abhijith said, who was recruited by the Income Tax Department of Maharashtra under the sports quota in 2024.

For Abhijith, Khelo India is more than just about winning medals. He describes it as a “prestigious championship” and emphasises that his main goal in Ladakh is to inspire athletes from his academy and demonstrate the importance of national platforms. With figure skating being introduced for the first time, the 6th edition of the Khelo India Winter Games featured 23 skaters from eight states, with Haryana leading with 8 athletes, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand, each with 4. This marks a promising start for winter sports in a predominantly tropical country like India.

–IANS

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