Interview: Asian Championships bronze medallist Tejeshwar Ashok talks about winning a rare medal for India in skating

Tejeshwar Ashok (right)

A few weeks ago, the Indian team competed at the 2014 Asian Championships in China. Over the long period of time that India has competed internationally in the sport of roller skating, medals have been very rare, with individual medals almost unheard of.

However, this year, all that changed. India won not one, but two medals in the junior men’s under-19 category. Harshveer Sekhon won the first medal in the point to point event, where he placed second and Tejeshwar Ashok placed third in the marathon.

Tejeshwar Ashok spoke on his experience at the recently concluded championships and the future he saw for himself in the sport, and for the sport itself.

Exceprts

Being that this was your first Asian championships and being the freshman of sorts on the team, what do you think was the`x’ factor that allowed you to finally win that elusive individual international medal for India?

First we had a camp in Pune and there a lot of the senior skaters said that we had a real chance at winning a medal, especially in the marathon event. So since that time, we have been working at that event and I guess, eventually succeeded. So we went into the championships believing that we could win and maybe that made the difference.

What was it like to be on that podium watching the flag rise?

It was such a proud moment for me to stand on that podium, receiving my medal and watching the Indian flag rise.

Now that we have scaled that first international medal barrier, in all honesty, what are our chances of a world medal in the near future?

I don’t think it’s an impossible dream but I honestly don’t believe that we can do it by only training here in India. I think to scale that mountain, we need to expand our horizons and be open to training in other countries, with better training and infrastructure. If we get the same world class training, there is no reason why a world medal cannot be achieved.

So what now for you?

Unfortunately, these Asian championships was my last time skating competitively. I will not even be attending the National championships at the end of this year. I believe it is time now for me to concentrate on my school work.

How do you feel about the fact that your tremendous achievement was only celebrated in the small world of skating and that you didn’t get the same level of media attention you would have received for the same level of achievement in another sport?

Whether it was in China or here, we weren’t given a lot of importance or recognition. Any media attention that I received was when we proactively contacted the media on my achievements. And I don’t think that a lot of people know about skating and what happens in the world of skating and frankly it seems to me that apart from the people already involved in the sport, not a lot of people are interested in really knowing about the sport either.