Speed thrills Hyderabad’s Aryan
The Telangana boy has been selected to represent India in the World In-line Hockey Championship in Italy
Aryan Karra loves speed. This 18-year-old took to Roller in-line hockey because it is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game. Though it is less attractive in the country than other sports, Aryan preferred this sport as speed thrills him, according to Nagesh Karra, father of Aryan. Mother Preethi Nigam is the famous television actor. Nagesh left his lucrative job as vice-president of Sriram Group to concentrate on his son’s career.
By playing this sport, Aryan also fulfilled his father’s wish to represent the country. At the age of 18 and just six years into this sport, Aryan’s latest achievement is that he has been selected to represent for the World Championship in Roccaraso, Italy, from September 9 to 19.
Being the only Telangana boy to make a mark in in-line hockey, Aryan is presently in the Indian camp in Chandigarh. “It is a big challenge. We are training very hard as we want to win a gold in the World Championship,’’ said Aryan, who was earlier part of the Indian team that clinched the bronze medal in the Asian Championship in 2018 in Korea. He scored six goals in that meet.
This will be his maiden appearance in the world championship although he participated in the world roller skating championship in Barcelona in 2019.
Incidentally, Aryan was never a skater in his initial days. He started with gymnastics as a five-year-old boy before he switched to badminton after seeing the likes of Jwala Gutta, Chetan Anand at the Lal Bahadur Indoor Stadium as a young kid.
Training under Goverdhan Reddy, he was in the game for a few years. But he lost interest once Goverdhan was transferred from Indoor Stadium. On his daily travel to LB Stadium from Himayatnagar, his eyes fell on the skating rink in Indira Park in Gandhinagar. It soon became a passion for him and he tasted success by winning silver medal in the State roller skating championship in Vijayawada.
Seeing his amazing speed and control over the skates, SATS coach Jitender Gupta persuaded Aryan to play in-line hockey. There was no stopping as Aryan began to win laurels. He scored a hat-trick for Telangana team in the Nationals in Vizag and soon earned a place in the Indian team. At the age of 14 years, he represented India.
In-line hockey is a difficult and challenging sport which needs tons of stamina, speed and control. Aryan spends a good amount of time for fitness under Sanjeeva and Vasu (at gym). Practising at Pragati Nagar skating rink in JNTU campus, where he trains under G Satya, Aryan has geared up to this World Championship.
In-line hockey apart, Aryan has scored high marks in academics too and is presently pursuing BBA at St Joseph’s College, Abids. A great lover of stray dogs, Aryan, who also acted as child actor in a devotional film, was in the news when he donated his long mane for the cause of cancer.
What’s Roller in-line hockey?
* Roller in-line hockey, or in-line hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface.
* Players use in-line skates to move and hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent’s goal to score points.
* There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time.
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