Rajkumar Tiwari's Training
Special Olympic gold medalist in figure skating and India's National Champion ( in General Category) is struggling to fund his training. Some of you might be aware of Rajkumar Tiwari's story. His story was covered in Indian media few years back.
https://www.ndtv.com/video/sports/news/rajkumar-tiwari-india-s-lone-gold-medal-winning-ice-skater-struggles-for-funds-312775
Some background:
He is native of Gorakhpur,UP,India but family lives in New Delhi where his dad is a street hawker. Dad sells cosmetic jewelry in Pahar Ganj area of New Delhi. He got into this sport by luck. He had a head injury as a child and developed hyperactivity disorder. This put him in a special ed school in New Delhi. There he got in touch with a coach who was training special kids. He played basketball and handball with them initially. Then folks there were putting a figure skating team for special Olympic. He was asked to try. They booked an ice rink in some mall for few hours every day for them to practice. That is how he got initiated in this sport. In his early days he mostly learned it by himself and by watching youtube videos. He then went on to win gold medal in special Olympic which brought media coverage. Many TV channels and newspaper covered story of his success in-spite of his poverty. As a result he got some help. Like Virendra Sehwag arranged a monthly scholarship of Rs 15000 from ONGC. Justice Mudgal donated his IPL earning of Rs 2 lacs etc etc. He was too good for the special category so he decided to compete in regular category. He won nationals in figure skating one year and silver medal last year. Both in the regular category.
http://www.iceskatingindia.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/XI-National-Figure-Ice-Skating-Delhi-2015.pdf
He has inspired and guided his younger brother ( 10 years old) into this game. Young lad has won many medals in India at sub junior level. He sees lots of potential in the younger one as age and experience of elder brother is on his side.
Current Situation:
One Indian Cor sponsored him for two month training in Oakland, CA. On landing here he got I-94 for six months. His two month training is over. He then decided to stay here for the rest of the 4 month to avail better facilities & training. It is cheaper to train an hour here than in that small rink in a mall in New Delhi. He stays in Warmspring, Fremont,CA. He spends morning working on his fitness( City Sports) then going to Fremont ice rink during public session ( costs around $10/hr). All of this is within 2 miles of where he stays. He doesnot own a car.He manages this by walking .He has managed to take care of his lodging and food. Language is also an issue. He can barely speak English.
Immediate goals and needs:
He wants to qualify for the next World Championship for India in the general category. He needs better shoes and coaching. He is struggling with some figure skating moves ( triples and some other things he mentioned) which can be fixed by good coaches. There are some coaches in San Jose but they cost north of $100 per hour and then there is issue of getting to San Jose, CA everyday.
Shoe cost: About $1000
Coaching/commute: About $3000/month ( Coach's fee, commute and rink access cost) .He got a long term visa to USA and intend to keep coming back for training. Training infrastructre in India for this sport is non existent. His current stay in USA is until first week of April.
How can you help:
1. Best would be if through your connections , you can get him corporate sponsorship for his training.
2. Donate via this page.
