India, Dec. 12 -- In September this year, at the far fringes of Indian sport, something exciting was happening for the first time. On the 15th, Anandkumar Velkumar, a 22-year-old athlete from Chennai, won India its first-ever gold at the Speed Skating World Championships in Beidaihe, China. He clocked just over one minute and 24 seconds in the senior men's 1000m sprint. That same day, 18-year-old Krish Sharma from Delhi won gold in the Junior category of the same race, rolling in at one minute and 22 seconds. Then, five days later, Velkumar won gold again, in the 42km skating marathon of the championship. And just like that, India had, for the first time, three top global honours in competitive skating.

It's a win 147 years in the making...