By Akanki Sharma,

New Delhi, (IANS) : Happiness knew no bounds for 18-year-old Aditya Pratap Singh Rathore and his family when he was named the winner of the IndiaSkills 2016 competition held here last month.

Hailing from the city of the Taj, Rathore won the first prize in the “Automobile Technology Skill” category at the competition organised by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

“I was given four different models of cars with several faults. I corrected them all in one-and-a-half hours which was even unbelievable for me,” Rathore told IANS.

After winning the IndiaSkills 2016 event, Rathore has his eyes firmly set on the WorldSkills International Competition to be held in Abu Dhabi next year.

“While correcting those automobile faults, the only thing in my mind was that I have to reach the world competition in Abu Dhabi. It feels great when you get a chance to represent the country at the international level,” he added.

Prior to securing first position at the national level, Rathore, who is pursuing a diploma course in automobiles from Tata Motors in Pune, won the first prize at the regional level too.

At the WorldSkills competition in Brazil last year, India won eight medals of excellence.

“This time, we are ensuring that our youth is trained and qualified to compete with the best talent across the world. To achieve this, we have certified trainers from the industry who will train national winners and help them get their maximum potential,” said Ranjan Choudhury, Head, WorldSkills India.

The “IndiaSkills” competition was held in 24 different categories, including auto-body repair, graphic designing, robotics, hair styling, welding and car painting, among others.

Nearly 4,820 candidates registered to participate in the competition this year, with 40 organisations like Mahindra, Tata, CII, NASSCOM and NIFT coming together to make it a grand success.

“Our endeavour is to ensure that ‘IndiaSkills’ competition reaches every corner of the country and provides an opportunity to youth to display skills at both national and international levels,” Jayant Krishna, Chief Operating Officer, NSDC, told IANS.

Rathore’s success is an inspiration for youngsters who wish to display technical skills at the world stage. The Virat Kohli fan says he will use the Rs one lakh reward money for further studies in the automobile sector.

Before the Abu Dhabi competition, Rathore has one more hurdle to clear — another competition to be held in the country at the end of the year for which he is practising nearly eight hours a day.

(Akanki Sharma can be contacted at akanki.s@ians.in)