Shruti Kotwal
I spotted her training at the gym this morning. Her posture, built and focus, prompted me to ask her if she were an athlete. “I am an ice skater.” was her modest reply.
Thank god for my curiosity, I prodded her further.
Meet Shruti Kotwal, India’s first female ice skating champion.
Shruti has been roller skating since childhood. After becoming a National level gold medallist in roller skating, she hit a roadblock for what next?
A scholarship guided her to pursue ice skating in Germany. At the 2011 South Asian Winter Games, she won three gold medals in the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m categories.
A blazing dream stimulated her to move to Calgary in Canada to hone her skills.
I asked her if she ever felt deflated, like where is all this leading her? “Every single day. There are highs and lows. I miss home, I miss family. I train four to five hours daily and then there are races that don’t go according to plan.
Add to this, I am the only brown girl in the arena. It’s almost like all eyes on me are invariably wondering what I’m doing there.
But then, there’s that vision of our Indian tricolour fluttering against the backdrop of the silvery white ice. It will be the first time ever. It keeps me going. I have given my self 3 years to prepare for the next Winter Olympics.” We have plenty of cynics on social media who will find problems with the Sporting eco system in India, who will blame our nutrition, our genetics, our attitude.
Please do me a favour, for a few seconds please quieten those voices. Imagine our Indian flag fluttering at the Winter Olympics 2022 and pour in all your positive energy into this young girls dream.
PS I already have a selfie with the future ice skating world champion. Yay!!