City gets its first skating rink rolling

Bhubaneswar: The capital city of Odisha got its first full-fledged skating rink Friday at Madhusudan Das Park in Pokhariput. It has been built by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in association with Orissa Skating Academy, an institute that promotes skating in the state.

Following a surge in the interest for roller skating in the city during the popular street festival Patha Utsav, the BDA authorities had evinced interest in developing appropriate facilities to promote the sports as many youngsters and kids were showing immense interest in these skating related sports following the rising popularity of the street fest.

“Currently, we have 40 members in our academy at Kalinga Stadium. We approached the development authority to make roller skating-related sports more attractive for the common people. We approached the development authority and they have come up with two locations. The other rink is under construction at Buddha Jayanati Park in Niladri Vihar,” said Secretary of Odisha Roller Skating Association and Odisha Roll Ball Association Partha Sarathi Jena.

BDA chief horticulturist Ashok N. Dhar, who inaugurated the Pokhariput facility, said, “The skating rink at Madhusudan Das Park is of nearly 8,000 square feet. We are today feeling very happy as many youngsters are currently showing interest in sports, which are new to the normal city following and roller ball (a type of foot ball played between two teams with roller skating on) and roller skating related activities have gained enough ground.’’

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, which was inaugurated on Friday amidst an audience, which encouraged the players.