On the last day of the Raja festival, the first skating rink in the city was inaugurated at Madhusudan Das Park, Pokhariput, developed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) on Friday.
The rink, developed in association with the Odisha Skating Academy, aims to popularise skating-related activities across the city.
After a surge in the interest for roller skating in the city following the popular street festival Raahgiri, which was later renamed as “Patha Utsav”, the BDA authorities were interested in developing facilities to promote the sport as many youngsters and kids were showing immense interest in skating.
Odisha Roller Skating Association and Odisha Roll Ball Association secretary and Odisha Skating Academy founder Partha Sarathi Jena said, “Currently we have 40 members at our academy in the Kalinga Stadium and to make the roller skating-related sports more attractive for the common people, we approached the BDA and they have come up with two locations. The other rinks are under construction at the Buddha Jayanti Park, Niladri Vihar.
BDA Chief Horticulturist Ashok N Dhar inaugurated the Pokhariput rink and said the skating rink at Madhusudan Das Park is of nearly 8,000 square feet.
The upcoming facility at the Buddha Jayanti Park would be nearly 20,000 square feet-size and quite big in comparison to the Pokhariput rink.