Uttarakhand would send a 20-member team to the 13th National Ice Skating Competition which is slated to start at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh on January 3, 2017. The secretary of the association Suresh Bhatt said that the boys and girls from the state have been selected to take part in the events like speed, figure and ice dance skating competitions. The national competition would be held in the senior, Junior, novice and juvenile age group for both male and female categories. The team includes star figure skater Nishtha Painyuli. The other members of the team are Amar Singh Rana, Abhiyudhya Uniyal, Prisha Chaddha, Harshita Rawtani, Samridhi Tiwari, Aksh Payal, Senahaish Tiwari, Yuvraj Gulati, Adarsh Singh Rawat, Dipika Panwar, Jatin Bhatt, Jayam Aale, Aryan Vishwakarma, Aditi Vishwakarma, Shrayansh Bhandari, Sahil Negi, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bisht and Abhishek Dangwal. The coach of the team would be Singhara Singh.
The President of the association Shiv Painyuli has requested the sports minister Dinesh Agarwal to provide sports kit and bear the cost of travel of the team.
He said that if the state government opens the ice rink located in the Raipur stadium for the youngsters then many international staking champions can emerge from the state. Interestingly this rink is biggest ice rink in Asia.
The selection trials for the players were held in the inline and quart skates.
The national championship in the ice rink of Shimla would be held between Januray 03 to 06. The championship is being organsied under the aegis of Ice Skating Association of India.