Visakhapatnam :

Petite Malipeddi Praneeta did her hometown proud by clinching the silver medal in the 16th Asian Roller Skating Championship held at Haining, China, from September 19 to 24. The second-year MBBS student, studying at the Andhra Medical College, won the silver in the Pair Dance Category (artistic) along with her Hyderabad-based partner Anup Kumar Yama, who is the current world champion in artistic skating.

Speaking to TOI here on Saturday, 18-year-old Praneeta however sounded a bit disappointed despite her success. “I was expecting to win a medal in the individual figure skating event, but I missed out and stood fourth. However, I’m happy that I did well in the pair event.”

Praneeta, who has been a national champion in figure skating for the last four years, both at the junior and senior levels, started skating at the Shivaji Park rink from 2005-2006 and since then has been rigorously trained by her coaches, P Satyanarayana, Chitti Babu and Mahesh.

Praneeta had earlier participated in the junior category of the World Artistic Roller Skating Championship in 2009 that was held at Freiberg, Germany, and is now ranked 18th in the world in the senior category. Talking about her immediate priorities, Praneeta said, “I wish to break into the top-10 in the figure skating event by next year.”

The daughter of a cardiologist, Dr M Bhaskar Rao, Praneeta too dreams of becoming a cardiologist like her father. However, she made it clear that she it would not be at the cost of roller skating.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / September 28th, 2014