Rohit Sharma vouches for Indian skater Nishchay Luthra

Cricket is unofficially known as the “national game of India“. There have always been arguments that the magnitude of the game in the country is so large that other sports are eclipsed by it. However, there have been a number of situations where cricketers have openly come out in support of other sports, be it tennis, football, kabbadi or even hockey. When it comes to promoting and nationalising other sports, the cricketers use their nationwide appeal in reaching to the people.

Rohit Sharma’s tryst with skating

Recently, a well endowed sports equipment management company has launched their new initiative christened “#FantheFire” to promote athletes who are involved in sports which do not receive a lot of national attention. Rohit Sharma has come out in support of Nishchay Luthra who is an Indian figure skater and is gearing up to represent the country in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The opener let his support to the skater be known with a tweet that read-  “@NishchayLuthra has all my support for the 2018 Winter Games. Give it your all & make India proud #FanTheFire!”

Nishchay was introduced to the world of skating at the young age of 10. He was coached by Vasudev Tandi who taught Nishchay the basics and also helped him through his graduation on ice-skating. Nishchay went on to win his first gold in 2011 at the National Ice Skating Championship in Shimla. He won gold in both singles and pairs events in the successive years.

After doing his practice at an indoor ice skating rink in Gurgaon, Nishchay won two silver medals in the National Ice Skating Championship in singles and pairs and in 2014, won gold for the same. He also represented India in the World Development Trophy in Manila in 2014 and won bronze.

He then moved on to the US owing to the lack of infrastructure for ice skating in India. On coming back to India, he once again went on to win two golds in the National Ice Skating Championships. Now, with the support of Rohit Sharma and many other well wishers, Nishchay will be hoping to leave his mark in the Winter Olympics in 2018.