A father’s selfless sacrifices that turned Abhijith into a world roller skating champion

Pathanamthitta: A supportive father sold Rs 2.5 crore worth of property to support his son’s dreams of mastering roller skating. The son made not just his father proud but the whole country by becoming an artistic roller skating star. 

At the tender age of three-and-a-half, Abhijith Amalraj was introduced to this world by his father Biju. He realized that to get the kind of training his son deserves, the income from writing accounts in shops would not suffice. 

At the age of 9, when Abhijith began winning medals at the national level, Biju realized that he would require even more specialized training. His first professional trainer was Anup Kumar Yama, an Arjuna award winning artistic roller skater from Hyderabad. 

As Abhijith kept proving his prowess, the need for international training became apparent. When Abhijith was selected for the World Championships in Columbia, South America in 2015, at the age of 12,  Biju sold his car to cover the cost. 

In 2016, their house was sold so that Abhijith could participate in the world meet in Italy. He came home with a silver medal. When the son was winning silver in China (2017) and bronze in France (2018), the father was selling land and property to meet expenses.

Abhijith trained under Italy’s former world champion Luca D’Alicera which cost him Rs 10 lakh per month. Even when shifting to a rented house, Biju looked forward to his son winning the world championship. 

In the 2019 world championship held in Spain, Abhijith won the championship in the junior category. He also clinched the gold medal in the recently held National games.

He also trains around 100 children at the Vazhamuttom National sports village and 64 of these children were selected for a national competition.