HOW Daughter of security guard & son of laborer emerges skateboarding champions at National Games.

AHMEDABAD: They needed wings to fly and found their calling in skateboarding. Meet the two National Games Gujarat champions – Shraddha  and Ranku, who battled financial hardship and infrastructural challenge to shine on the biggest platform of their nascent skateboarding career – a sport which is still finding its footing in India. Pune's Shraddha, whose family shifted from Maharashtra in December 2017 in search of employment, won the skateboarding street title in the women's section, while Manipur (Ranku) – son of a laborer – took home the title trophy in the men's division. It's 16-year-old Shraddha's determination and hard work which prompted a movie – Skater Girl – on her struggles, released worldwide on Netflix in 2021. "Our family shifted to Pune in search of employment and my father Ravindra Gaikwad got a job as a security guard at a Decathlon store there. I used to go to deliver his lunch box at the store after returning from school. I saw a skateboarding workshop happening over there and asked my father about it. He sounded clueless, so I took one skateboard and tried my hand on it. The store manager (Abu Sheikh) saw me and was impressed by my skills. He offered me a pair of shoes and a skateboard of my own for free, since I was practicing bare-footed. That's how my journey began. After that, I started training regularly at the store in the evening," Shraddha, 16, told TOI. Shraddha, a class X1 student, informed that his father took a loan of Rs 10,000 from his friend to send him to the Games as part of the Maharashtra state contingent. This is the first time the sport has been included in the event. "My father earns Rs 12,000 per month. We don't have any other means of income. To ensure my participation at the Games, he took a loan, which helped us in arranging the taxi (fare) and train tickets to Gujarat." Shraddha was helped in her career by a local coach Swap nil Magyar, who admitted her in his academy for free and arranged for her trip to Bengaluru in December 2018 to participate in the International Skateboarding Competition, the South Asia's largest skateboarding event. "I came third in the street competition and the win provided me a new identity in the skateboarding circle. Everybody now recognizes me. I am looking to qualify for the Hangzhou Asian Games next year in skateboarding," she added. For Manipur's Ranku, doing odd jobs like whitewashing and wall paintings ensured that he continued funding his skateboarding needs in the absence of any stable financial income. His father (Mangle Singh) works as a laborer, while his mother Ranjita sells mo mos "The culture of skateboarding in Manipur started in 1999. There's a huge presence of skateboarders pursuing it as a recreational sport. I was introduced to the game five years ago and started participating professionally in 2020. There's no proper infrastructure in place for skateboarding in Manipur, so I will train in early hours on the streets to avoid getting hit by a truck or car," said a national-level medalist, through his interpreter, coach. "I didn't have funds to buy a (skateboard)  which cost around Rs 15,000. So, I did part-time jobs like whitewashing and wall paintings to continue with my training. I'll practice in the early hours and then attend my school. After coming back, I'll do these odd jobs till late in the evening," informed, a student of class X11 at the Lam long higher secondary school.