Chennai girl set for Belgium World Skating Championship

Aarathy Kasturiraj, a skater from the city, already has many accolades to her credit. And now, this young medical student is set to participate in the World Championship in Belgium this month. Aarathy is the only girl skater from the state to represent India.
"This is my third World Championship appearance and I am sure to put my best foot forward for the event, which will start on August 22.In the 2011 World Championship, I finished 10th in 10,000m race, the best performance by an Indian till date," claims Aarathy.
Nineteen-year-old Aarathy, who practises for almost seven hours a day, currently concentrates on building endurance to prepare for both short and long races in the championship. "I will be competing in 200m, 500m, 1000m, 10km, 15km and 42km races. For that, I have been following a strict diet to gain energy, apart from morning warm-ups at Island Grounds and long distance practices, for which I skate from Chennai to Mahabalipuram."
Aarathy, who has also undergone several international training sessions, says that she started doing roller skating since she was seven. After trying out swimming and tennis, she realized that she excelled at this sport. She says, "I got attracted to skating after watching children doing it at Anna Nagar Tower Park during my regular visits there with my mother. And once I started to practise, the speed and balance gave me a thrill and helped me enjoy the sport."
Ask her how well the sport is doing in Chennai, she replies, "It is still in the developing stage. The need of the hour is to have better racing tracks in the city."