Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (SB)
Mangaluru, Nov 23: 'Francis and Doris skating city' the newly installed roller skating rink, built on par with international standards, was inaugurated on Thursday, November 23 at Ashok Nagar.
Inaugurating the rink, World Bunts Association President Sadananda Shetty lauded the Concessao couple – Francis and Doris for putting up the wonderful infrastructure that will help many skaters and also contribute towards the growth in the sport.
Corporator Prathibha Kulai too said that the world class rink will encourage children to take up skating as a sport and also help skaters train professionally. It will facilitate skaters to take part in international competitions, she said.
Presiding over the programme corporator Nagaveni said that the rink is a feather in the port city’s cap. It will help boost tourism in the region, she said.
Fr Austin Peris, parish priest of Derebail church blessed the premise of skating city and invoked God s blessings.
After the inauguration the 33 state level skating championship and selection trials began. Hi Flyers skating club and Francis and Doris skating city are the organizers of this event.
Winners of the district-level roller skating competitions will take part in the state-level championship. The participants include Asian games relay medallist Dhanush Babu, Asian games medallist Varsha Puranik, National Champion Elizabeth Achaiah Aditya Rao, Rithik Karadi, Mouna Babu, Omkar Yogaraj, Khushi Rani and Dashel Amanda Concessao. A total of 800 skaters are expected at the event, he said.
MESCOM MD Rama Krishna, Mr Pradeep D’Souza from the Youth empowerment and sports department, Chief Referee of 33rd state level Skating championship were present.
The skating rink with a view of the beautiful Phalguni River is spread over an area of 1.20-lakh square feet. The rink measures 200 metres with two straight stretches of 96.5-metres and two bends of 3.5metres each. Laid using state-of-the-art material imported from Italy, the rink also has a 44 metre by 22 metre area inside the track that can be used for artistic skating and a 6-metre track abutting the space for artistic skating that can be used for slalom races. A 275-metre asphalted road surrounding the track can be used for road races.