Sky’s the limit for seven-year-old skating prodigy Sree
PETALING JAYA: For seven-year-old ice skater C. Sree Abiraame, the world is her oyster.
After winning four gold medals in the ISI Asia Skate Shenzhen 2018 championships in China, she is looking for more successes in 2019.
She won gold in the speed racing, freestyle 1, solo competition freestyle 1 and artistic freestyle 1 and 2 in the tournament for under seven, which was held from Dec 1 to 2.
For the 2019 season, the girl from Kingsley International School will be taking part in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Yunnan (Skate Asia 2019) for the ISI Asia Skate championships.
Sree, who is able to do figure and speed skating, said she wants to be victorious in all the categories she takes part in.
“I can do better. I won four gold medals in China and four in Bangkok,” referring to her haul of four gold, one silver and one bronze at the Skate Asia Bangkok earlier this year.
She was introduced to figure skating at the age of three and now the Kingsley International School student is hoping to become an Olympic champion in the future.
“I like Yuna Kim (South Korean figure skater). She was an Olympic champion and I want to be like her.”
According to her father B. Chendren, Sree was always in awe of ice and snow whenever his family goes for their annual trip to Sweden.
“She showed some interest and we brought her to an ice skating rink in 2015. From then on, there was no stopping her.
“She learned quickly and her coaches were really impressed with her progress. Sree would watch YouTube clips of skating and just wanted to do her best in improving her posture, style and skating,” said the businessman.
In that year also, Sree suffered an injury when she fell when she was outside the ice rink and he and his wife, R. Shymala thought she would not want to skate again.
“But she came back strongly and in 2017, she participated in several championships. That’s when we knew she was serious about the sport. As parents, we will motivate her to do something that she is passionate about.
Chendren said his family is funding her competition expenses and if the government helps out, skaters like her can take part in many international competitions.
“Most of the skaters are self-funded. We hope that the Youth and Sports Ministry sees the potential of these athletes. With the right backing, many skaters like Julian Yee and young ones like my daughter are able to make the nation proud with their prowess.
“In years to come, if there is backing, we might even have a Malaysian gold medallist in the Winter Olympics.”