“I will win not immediately, but definitely.”

adidas Uprising #FanTheFire

Nischchay Luthra

This was Nishchay Luthra ’s tweet on June 20, 2017, roughly a week before the 18-year-old figure skater from India took over Twitter. Through a campaign video made by Adidas , Nishchay became a much-talked personality on the micro-blogging site and garnered support from the likes of cricketers KL Rahul Rohit Sharma , Rishabh Pant and film star Ranveer Singh, who changed their display names in support of Nishchay.For the uninitiated, Nishchay is an ice figure skater aiming to represent India at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. But due to lack of funds, the Delhi-born skater is losing out on training time. He has now turned to crowdfunding platform, Milaap , to sustain his training and the campaign has helped bring out Nishchay’s story out to the world.“Right now, with the crowdfunding, in cooperation with Milaap I have a little over Rs two lakhs in contributions,” Nishchay tells TOI Sports from Florida. “But for me to train, I need at least three-four lakhs a month. The Union Government gave me Rs 5 lakh [Rs 4,56,568 in 2015-16 through the National Sports Development Funds] the first time around and told me to go train for six months. But how could I do that? It is the training cost for just one month. My mom had to take a loan against our house in Delhi, she had to look at options like jewellery mortgage to meet the costs.”Ice skating is an expensive sport, but it is one that caught Nishchay’s attention at the age of 10. He excelled in it by winning nine gold and three silver medals at the Ice Skating Nationals between 2011 to 2016 and then bronze at the World Development Trophy 2014 in Manilla, Phillippines. The lack of infrastructure in India meant he had move to the USA for better training in 2015. Six months later, he was back in India not knowing how to conjure up the funds to go back again and resume his training.During his first trip to the USA, Nishchay realised that he was a mere beginner in comparison to his peers. Starting off as a roller skater, Nischay had to adjust a lot but he showed immense potential.“I came to Miami for training and everyone was better than me. The kids I was training with had been doing this for over six years and I used to be the last among the group of 20, however, I learned lot and picked up things quickly,” remembers Nishchay. “When I came here, I only knew how to do a single axle and that is an elementary stunt in figure skating . But after six months I had a double axle and triple toe (loop). And I got better than all the kids in my rink. They were training for over six years and I got it in just six months. My coach Ken Johnson also wrote a letter of recommendation to the to the association.”The Ice Skating Association of India, as Nishchay says, is trying to help him out be they cannot be blamed as even they don’t have the required funds. “I would not blame the association, because they do not have the funds. I would say that SAI (Sports Authority of India) should support,” he says.“Athletes like Mary Kom were not really known until she represented India. She got all the support after her success. I am saying you need to support athletes before they achieve something. Ice skating is not popular in India, I get it; but it is a sport and I had to leave my country to train abroad. The union government gave me five lakhs on two occasions - in 2015 and then in 2016 - and to be honest it is insufficient, but I am not giving up and trying to do my best. Yes, I need more funds and the authorities should realise that. The support should come now, not after let say the Olympics.”For comparison, under the ‘ Financial Assistance given to Sportspersons and Organizations from National Sports Development Funds ', while Nishchay received Rs 4,56,568, shooters Mohd Ashab received Rs 22,24,293, Kynan Chenai got Rs 22,35,047, Abhinav Bindra received Rs 95,15,145, Manavjit Singh Sandhu Rs 53,31,882 [under TOPS Scheme] and Ronjan Sodhi Rs 17,77,702 in 2016.Nishchay also tried to reach out to the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel, on twitter. “I retweeted one of Vijay Goel’s tweets saying that the government had given me funds earlier as well. But my point is giving funds one time is not enough. If you expect a medal at the Olympics, you must put in the effort and support more. They should realise the effort that I am putting in. There are a lot of constraints for me at this time,” he says.To use a staking rink, Nishchay needs to shell out USD 100 (Rs 6500 approx) for one hour; add to that another USD 100 for his lessons given by 2010 Winter Olympian, Adrian Schultheiss of Sweden.“I can only take 30 -minute lessons and he (Schultheiss) charges me USD 40 (Rs 2500 approx.) instead of USD 50,” he says. “I see other kids, they come on the ice and train for three hours with the coaches – morning and then evening, and here I am sitting there and looking at them train. I try to watch online videos on the sidelines. And I know this is not going to work for long as I need to train four hours daily, but I can only train half an hour, four times week. So, if you calculate, I am taking four half an hour lessons and other kid are taking up to 21 lessons in the same amount of time.”In Florida, Nishchay is training in a an advanced rink - The Panthers Ice Den. Unfortunately, it is costs double the previous rink and he is struggling with the funds. However, he is happy that the support is pouring in.“I see the country is standing by me and I realise that. But, I need to train and for that I need to pay. I tried to reach out to Salman (Khan), Shah Rukh (Khan), Hrithik (Roshan), Kapil Sharma on twitter asking them to share the campaign,” says Nishchay. “Ranveer Singh posted the video and I have got a lot of response. And the main thing is lot of people now me know. Then again, am not looking for popularity. I don’t want any popularity with this campaign; I haven’t qualified for the Olympics yet. I was in a show called India’s Got Talent but that was taking a lot of time off my training, so I decided to quit and had a big fight over this with my partner. I knew I didn’t want the popularity from the show; I want it by representing India at the Olympics and by winning a medal.”Nishchay will be participating in the Junior Grand Prix of figure skating – one in Australia and in Poland – and the expense for this is taken care of by the Ice Skating Association of India. Regarding qualification for the Winter Games, he is a long long away from achieving the dream. With only one qualification tournament left, the Melbourne Trophy, Nishchay injured his ankle couple of weeks back.”“I twisted my ankle because I was practising with a broken skate. I don’t have the money for buying the equipment, so I was training with those skates and one day I fell and twisted my ankle,” he reveals. “There are 30 spots for the Winter Olympics, and to be honest if it goes like this, I am not going to qualify. Even before the qualification event, a local competition is organised and we accumulate points and then only decide to whether go for the qualification events. And I do not have that many points. I need more lessons and training”.However, for Nishchay it is not just about the 2018 Games.“I cannot stop at this. I need to go on. Like how Shiva Keshavan (luge) has been a constant presence at the Winter Games, I want the same and be persistent,” he says. “For me if this (2018 Olympics) doesn’t happen, I will try to for 2022. I want to be a better skater, I want to feel satisfied with me, like when I see myself on the screen I want to feel that I am unique, one of a kind. I will be competing for India and the aim is an Olympic gold. I stated figure skating very late, so I still need a lot of catching up to do, I know that. But I want to continue doing this”.