Blindfold skating: Hubballi girl rolls into record book

A 12-year-old girl made Hubballi proud with the blindfolded skating feat that earned her an entry into the Guinness World Records, here on Thursday.

Skating blindfolded, Ojal S Nalavadi, a Class VII student of JSS Sri Manjunatheshwara Central School in the city, clocked 51.25 seconds for 400 metres to set the record for the fastest woman in blindfold skating.

She performed the feat on the recently developed TenderSURE road at Akshay Colony.

"I was practising hard under the guidance of Akshay Suryavanshi for the past two years. I will eclipse this record in the coming days," a beaming Ojal told reporters.

Guinness World Records observer Victor Fenes registered the performance and issued the certificate to Ojal. "This is the first Guinness record for fastest blindfolded skating in the female category," he said.

Daughter of Sunil Nalavadi and Deepa, Ojal has already got into the habit of setting and rewriting her records in roller skating. Her feats have found entries in Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records.

Hundreds witnessed Ojal's feat during the Children's Day event held with the 'encourage girl-child' theme.