Desi Today Magazine
By Surbhi Gogia
Prabhhnoor Kaur Grewal, a Grade 6 student of Khalsa School Surrey (Old Yale Road Campus), has recently achieved a rare milestone by winning a silver medal in the BC long track speed skating championship (under 12 years) event in Fort St. John.
A rare achievement by an Indo-Canadian kids, since there are not many from who pursue speed skating as a sport. Prabhnoor’s father Bimal Singh Grewal, says, there are only 4 to 5 Indo-Canadian kids following it as a professional sport. “It is not expensive, and there are resources available.” He encourages other parents to explore the ice-skating facilities around their area.
This is how 11-year-old Prabhnoor, realized her skill in skating. There is no professional skater in the family. “We as a family used to go to a lot of drop-in sessions.” Prabhnoor’s liking for sports started with hiking and gymnastics. She began Ice-skating at the age of 4. “It was during one of her sessions at Langley, that we got introduced to Eden Green, the speed skating Olympian from BC. Prabhnoor got more involved in skating from there.”
She was competitive from the beginning and she started getting better. In 2018, she qualified for BC short track speed skating and in 2019 she has won silver in long track making her community proud.
Kamalpreet Kaur Baga, Principal, Khalsa School Surrey (Old Yale Road Campus), said that Prabnoor brought honor to their school and the community. “This achievement marks her as the first Punjabi Sikh athlete in BC’s history of long track winter sport,” she added. Her father and mother have played a very important role in her success, said Baga.
When congratulated for Prabhnoor’s commitment and determination, Prabhnoor’s da, said that he Prabhnoor to “maintain being humble and generous.” He thanked all the community members for their support. “I compliment my community, her coaches, the media and special thanks to her school for being so supportive. Sometimes it becomes hard to keep up with school schedule and skating practice. But her school has played a very important and supportive role,” he added.
The school held a special assembly to honour Prabhnoor for her achievement. “Even though I didn’t get gold but I am really very happy because I’m looking forward for gold next year,” Prabhnoor said. She aims to be an Olympian one day. Prabhnoor has also won third position in the B.C. Regional Spelling Bee Championship twice consecutively.
