Shreyasi Joshi from Pune bags gold at Asian Roller Skating Championship in Korea

Already one of the best players in the world at such a young age, Joshi is currently ranked number 4 in Inline Freestyle in the World Skate women’s rankings.

Describing the beginning of her skating journey, Joshi said, “I started when I was just three-years-old. It started out as a hobby which quickly turned into passion. I was in my school’s playground, where I saw a few senior skaters skating besides the ground on the track.

I told my mom that it really looks cool and adventurous and I want to try it out. They enrolled me for the classes.”

“ I played my first state championship after winning the district championship, and from then onwards, I felt like I wanted to play and win a medal at the national championship,” she said.

Joshi began with speedskating and shifted to inline freestyle later. “Speed skating is like a normal race but on skates. Inline Classic is a performance in between cones placed on the surface with music playing in the background. It is more technical,” she explained.

Joshi won her first junior National Championship in 2016. There was no stopping her after this, as she won every junior and later senior National Championship till date.

“At the Asian Championships, I knew I had performed well and was waiting for the results. I could see that the whole Indian team was looking at the screen, and my parents were also there. As soon as the results appeared, people began shouting in joy. My mother was crying,” said Joshi, who enjoys a following of over 2.2 lakh followers on Instagram.

Her usual skating practice routine lasts for four-five hours everyday, along with pilates for flexibility and workout on most days.

A third-year B.Tech student at MIT-WPU, Joshi says she has received support from her college for attendance logs and exam rescheduling to accommodate her training and competitions.

Joshi also highlighted the lack of good training facilities in the city. Not all surfaces are suitable for training, she says, and that some popular training arenas charge as high as Rs 40,000 per day, a cost that is not feasible for an individual athlete to pay. She hopes for government support and recognition for athletes performing well in roller skating events.