India hopes to win big at WorldSkills competition

Team India is ready to participate in the biggest exhibition for skills, “WorldSkills” competition, which will be held in Abu Dhabi from 14 to 19 October.

As many as 1200 competitors from 75 countries are participating in the event, which is regarded as “Olympics of skills”, being organised since 1950. The maximum age for participating in this event is 23 years. The participants will compete across 50 skills at the event. There will be 28 competitors from India, participating in 26 skills.

National Sill Development Corporation (NSDC) chief operating officer (COO) Jayant Krishna said the world level competition is held every two years. “We have been spearheading India’s participation under ‘WorldSkills India’ banner since 2011. For the upcoming competition, we have selected a team which will compete in 26 skills ranging from car painting, brick laying, hair styling, beauty therapy, mobile robotics etc,” he said.

These competitors were identified through a series of competitions at regional and national levels in the last two years, after which they went through extensive training with industry partners, which helped them improve their skills before the competition. Many of the candidates also travelled to foreign countries to get training under the guidance of some of the best trainers.

This week, the NSDC organised a three-day training and team building workshop for all the capitals in New Delhi, which was aimed at equipping the candidates with softer skill like time management, coping with pressure and other pre-event preparation required to participate at the international competition. The workshop was conducted by renowned soft skills training organisation, Tata Strive.

Last time the event took place in Sao Paulo (Brazil) in which the Indian team could not win any gold, silver or bronze medal. It, however, won eight “medallions” for good performance.

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who is the brand ambassador of the Skill India Mission, and Deepa Malik, who won two medals at the last Paralympics in Rio 2016, sent motivational video messages for the workshop. Most of the competitors come from humble background and have worked hard to earn themselves a place in the contingent.