Ludhiana skaters shine at state tourney

The 36th Punjab State Roller Skating Championship wrapped up on Sunday at the Leisure Valley rink in Ludhiana. Skaters from Ludhiana and Moga dominated the competition, taking home several top positions across various categories.
In the five-to-seven-year age group for girls, Adhya Narang from Ludhiana showcased her skills by winning gold in both the freestyle and solo dance categories, while also securing a silver in figure skating. Takshita Sharma from Moga followed closely, earning silver in freestyle, bronze in solo dance and bronze in figure skating. In the Under-11 pair skating category, Takshita Sharma teamed up with Shivaay from Moga to win gold.
In the boys’ five-to-seven-year category, Shivaay from Moga bagged gold in freestyle, while his teammate Nivek Jain won silver. Nivek later clinched gold in solo dance, pushing Shivaay to second place with silver. Samarveer from Ludhiana took bronze in both categories. Gurpreet and Avijeevan, both from Moga, finished with silver and bronze respectively in figure skating.
In the nine-to-11-year age group, Amitoj Kaur secured bronze in all three inline events of freestyle, solo dance and figure skating. For girls on quads, Ludhiana’s Bani Toor earned gold in freestyle, while her teammate Prabhnoor won silver. Moga’s Pehal Goyal triumphed in solo dance and figure skating, while Bani Toor took silver in solo dance.
The girls in the seven-to-nine-year category from Ludhiana also performed well, with Sehaj Khanna and Trisha Sareen both securing silver and bronze medals in freestyle and figure skating, while Trisha grabbed silver in solo dance.
In the 11–to-14-year age group, Ludhiana’s Ekampreet Kaur and Gurnaaz Kaur took first and second places in freestyle, with Moga’s Aradhya Sharma finishing third. Ekampreet and Ananya Gupta from Ludhiana came first and second in solo dance, with Aradhya again in third place. Pair skating mix saw Aradhya and Ranbir claim gold, Samar and Sehaj take silver and Aatif and Prisha took bronze.
A special category for children with disabilities was introduced for the first time. In the 1 Lap+D race, Avyukt Singh from Patiala won in the seven-to-nine age group, while Anirudh Malhotra took gold in the 11-to-14 age group. Nivad Garg claimed first place in the nine-to-11 inline race. In the 2 Lap+D race, Avyukt Singh again won in the seven-to-nine age group.
MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi attended the medal distribution ceremony and congratulated the winners. He emphasised the development of rink infrastructure in Ludhiana, which made the championship possible, and pledged continued support for roller skating in the future.
ADCP (operations) Ramandeep Singh Bhullar who served as the chief guest, encouraged the young skaters and stressed the importance of physical strength and regular practice in mastering the sport.