India’s velocity skaters dazzled on the Asian Games with two shock bronze medals in males’s and ladies’s 3000m crew relay occasions to match their best-ever efficiency in curler sports activities on the continental showpiece right here on Monday.

Teenagers Karthika Jagadeeswaran and Heeral Sadhu mixed with 29-year-old Aarathy Kasturi Raj to clinch India’s first-ever medal within the rushing skating self-discipline in Asian Games.

Anand Kumar Velkumar, Siddhant Kamble and Vikram Ingale then adopted their girls counterparts to seize the third spot with a timing of 4:34.861s within the closing at Qiantang Roller Sports Centre.

Roller sports activities made its debut within the Asian Games in 2010 when Anup Kumar Yama bagged bronze in males’s single free skating occasion earlier than combining with Avani Panchal to complete third within the pairs skating occasion.

On Monday, the ladies’s quartet completed with a timing of 4:34.861s to bag the third place on the rostrum behind gold medallists Chinese Taipei (4:19.447) and silver winner South Korea (4:21.146).

“Winning bronze will definitely open up a lot of opportunities for us because we are not on the priority list in India. Sadly, this isn’t an Olympic sport,” Aarthy, a physician and spouse of Indian cricketer Sandeep Warrier, mentioned after the win.

Incidentally, Chinese Taipei (4:05.692) and South Korea (4:05.702) took the top-two spots within the males’s occasion as effectively.

The Indian trio had clocked 4:15.126 within the heats and bettered it within the closing.

“We were really hoping for a medal today, as we knew we were in the mix. Being with the Chinese Taipei and Republic of Korea guys is a really big thing for us, as they’re the best in the world, and we are not at that level yet. We’re maybe among the top 15 athletes in the world,” Kamble mentioned.

The 24-year-old revealed that his wheel slipped in his second lap which slowed them a bit.

“We were still going to try and fight for silver in the relay, but in my second last lap, in one of the corners, my wheel slipped a little bit and a small gap grew between us and the other teams. After that, it was all about recovering.”

For many of the Indian skaters it was a maiden Asian Games look.

“It was really hard racing. It was my first time racing in the senior category, so it was a great experience to be racing with them. Winning the medal was a dream come true, and all the people in India will be happy,” mentioned 20-year-old Velkumar, who’s a pc science scholar.

A delighted 17-year-old Sadhu, who had completed a creditable seventh within the girls’s 1000m Point-Elimination race, mentioned, “This is my first Asian Games. I’m just 17, and I’m really happy we got a team medal.”

The 15-year-old Karthika hoped this medal would encourage others to take up the game.

“It was really great, it was my first experience at the Asian Games and it is going to be the best experience for me,” Karthika mentioned.

“This is a really good opportunity for others to get into the sport. It’s an opportunity for everyone. It shows we can get medals in any sport. I would like to see more competitions in roller skating and make everyone really proud of roller skating in our country,” she added.