Ice skating moves indoors because of poor ice cover in Shimla

The 13th National Ice Skating Championship has been switched to the NCR's and India's only all-season indoor rink. This has been necessitated by the absence of a good ice cover in Shimla. The championship will be in the categories of speed (short track) and figure skating. The dates are January 5 and 6 and the venue - the city's own iSKATE.
The change of venue has given the hosts hardly two days to get ready to welcome the skaters. As indicated by the authorities of iSKATE, the quality of ice is good enough for the participants to perform with confidence. As explained by an expert, an outdoors setting like Shimla means that the rink at the mercy of the elements. If there is too much sunshine or if the humidity levels are too high, the ice melts. For good performance, the has to be level.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 5 January 2017.

In order to give their best, the athletes need at least four to five inches of ice. Added to that is the cost of the skates - each pair of skates costs at least Rs. 40,000. If one is skating in muck or mud, and a stone gets in the way, it damages the blades.
There are expected to be around 300 participants. Most of them will be from India but there will also be a few Indian-origin skaters from abroad. The competition would be dominated by speed skaters, since that is the discipline young Indians are more comfortable with (helped by the ubiquity of inline roller skating). Figure skating takes more practice and effort.
The events consist of a couple of sessions on each day - from 7 am to 11:30 am in the morning, and from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm in the evening.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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