Champion of Figure Skating

Nine year old K. Aaradhana,   a student of standard IV in Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidhyashram School, Kilpauk, Chennai has developed a passion for an international sport which manyyoung girls of her age would not even dream of pursuing. And the little girl excels in this sport. Aaradhana is the daughter of Mr.C. Kasturiraj and Dr.Mala Raj.

There have been many firsts to her credit. She had won a Bronze Medal in the Juvenile Girl’s B event in the “2008 Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge”, in Hong Kong, China held on 5th and 6th of May 2008. Earlier, she won Two Gold medals in both Girls 100m and Girls 200m in the “2007 Short Track Speed Skating (Ice Skating) Fall/Winter Ranking Competition”, organized by Chinese Taipei Skating Union held on October 15th, 16th & 17th   2007, in Taipei, Taiwan.

Figure skating is certainly a sport dominated by foreign countries, but Aaradhana has showed excellent perseverance to overcome the supremacy of a foreign sport as well as the chilly conditions to win a Silver medal in the Girl’s Single Juvenile event in the 2007 Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge, sub junior category in Hong Kong, China on 16th of April 2007.  By all means a noteworthy achievement by a young Indian. Aaradhana created a record by being the First Skater to win a Medal for India in the Asian Games in Ice Figure Skating. Also, she is the First Skater from Tamil Nadu to represent India in the Sub-Junior Category in the Asian Games in Figure Skating.

She bagged the First Place in Figure skating below 9 years category in the IV National Ice Skating Championship. She had also won the Third Place in the 300 metres Short Track Speed Skating below 9 years category. This was Aaradhana’s first victory in the National level.

She has also won 3 Gold medals in the CBSE South Zone Roller Skating Championship held at Nehru Stadium, Chennai in September 2006. This was her First victory in the CBSE meet. She won 3 Gold medals in the Inline Skating in the District Roller Skating Championship held at Chennai in August 2008.

She has till date won 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 5 Bronze medals in the National and International events. No mean achievement for one so young!

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The Shimmer of the Stars

Among the nation’s youth Icons are a child artist, a media luminary, a potential inventor and a telemedicine baron in the making!

T.A Aparna (18), a technology student has been awarded a patent for a novel invention – a metered dose inhaler for Asthmatic-prone individuals. Equipped with a host of advantages, which inventors of existing Asthmatic individuals hadn’t even dreamed of, this user-friendly device is proving to be a welcome change to multitudes of distressed Asthma individuals. That’s not all! An Insulin inhaler, domestically apposite solar panel & an air-cleaning fan are on the cards too! This passionate scientist who began her foray into expensive research & laboratory experiments in the Ninth standard, attributes her achievements to her grandmother.

To escalate to the position she stands on today, she has probably had to compromise on the joy of having a sunny social circle and other smaller pleasures of life, which a typical teenager would take much delight in. The brilliant yet bashful young lass was seen to exude much intellectual charm as well as a quiet kind of indomitable strength & confidence in all the workshops, presentations, interviews & interactive sessions that prevailed.