Chennai college student wins bronze medal at Asian Games speed skating relay

Chennai resident Anandkumar Velkumar, along with Siddhant Rahul Kamble and Vikram Rajendra Ingale, won bronze medal in Men's Speed Skating 3000m Relay at Asian Games. Anand, a 3rd-yr computer science student, has been skating for 14 yrs & won silver medal in World Championships in 2021. PM Modi congratulated them on their 'Incredible display of teamwork'.

As India continues to bag medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, Chennai had an additional reason to celebrate on Monday, October 2, 2023. 

Anandkumar Velkumar, a Chennai resident, along with Siddhant Rahul Kamble and Vikram Rajendra Ingale, won the bronze medal at the Men’s Speed Skating 3000m Relay. 

“We had a series of trials this year and we stayed in Mohali for around two months to train. As a team, we have been training together for the last five months and we are thrilled with the result,” said Mr. Anandkumar, over a phone call.

A third-year student of computer science at the College of Engineering Guindy, the 20-year-old said that he has been skating for 14 years. In Chennai, he has been training at the Nehru Stadium under his coach, Sathyamoorthy. 

“In 2018, I joined the Indian Team and participated in the World Championships and Asian Championships when I was 15 years old, and was one of the youngest skaters then,” he said. In 2021,  Mr. Anandkumar won a silver medal at the World Championships.

His family in Chennai have been getting phone calls from happy relatives and friends once the news broke about the team’s bronze medal win at the Asian Games. Speaking about Mr. Anandkumar’s early tryst with skating, his father Velkumar Subramanian said that Anand saw his sister skating, and enrolled in classes when he was six years old. “He studied at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and continued to skate, and subsequently began to participate in state and national-level competitions,” he said. “He is expected to come back soon, and we are waiting to celebrate with him,” Anand’s sister Subi Suvetha, said.