4th Edition of Khelo India Winter Games- Day 02:

Himachal Pradesh takes away all medals in Giant Slalom for Women; Army sweeps Men's Sprints

GULMARG, FEBRUARY 22: On the second day of fourth edition of Khelo India Winter Games being organized here, players took to venues to participate in the Nordic Skiing, Alpine Skiing, Ski Mountaineering and Snowboarding events scheduled for the day.

The comprehensive measures taken by the J&K Sports Council ensured that all the events were successfully conducted with all the logistics available to the players.

In the early morning, the field of event for Nordic Sprint witnessed the brimming Gulmarg bowl with snow sports enthusiasts.  At the Golf Club, Nordic Sprint for Men of distance 1.6 KM was held in which 36 players participated where Army again made a clean sweep as Manjeet bagged Gold Medal while Padma Namgial got Silver and Rameez Ahmad Padder settled for Bronze.

Manjeet, representing the Army, won the Silver Medal yesterday.

Speaking at the medal presentation ceremony, he expressed excitement over the achievements and gave credit to his family, friends and staff who encouraged him and chiseled his potential.

In the same event for women’s category of distance 5KM, Bhavani Thekeda Nanjunda from Karnataka bagged Gold; Sapna and Prince Kumari representing ITBP received Silver and bronze respectively.

The highlights of the Khelo India Winter Games for the second day were the events held at Kongdoori where three sports events of Giant Slalom, Run Slalom and Mountaineering Sprints for Men and Women groups were organised as per the fixtures.

In the Sprints Mountaineering Skiing, Menka Gunjiyal from Uttrakhand bagged the Gold medal, Shazia Hassan from J&K got the Silver while Kaamya Kathikeyan from Maharashtra got the bronze medal.

Menka Gunjiyal from Uttrakhand could not hold herself as she jumped in joy when she was declared winner. She acknowledged that the competition was very good from other participants but she put her best to win the Gold Medal.

Her father who had been also an athlete and is Padma Shri awardee is her role model. She desires to gain more experience and represent country in the Olympic games.

Mountaineering Skiing for Men’s category was flagged-off by Olympian Shiva Keshavan at Kangdoori. The Sprint race culminated with Mayank Dimiri from Uttarakhand taking the Gold Medal while Shahid Ahmad Chichi and Mehraj Ud Din Bhat from J&K winning  silver and bronze respectively.

So, it has been a golden day for Uttarakhand as another player from the state won the Gold medal in Mountaineering Skiing at Kangdoori. Mayank while displaying his happiness said that he is proud of his performance and divulged that he has trained consistently. Talking about the difference between the slopes of Gulmarg and Uttrakhand he said that the vertical slopes here are ideal for skiing and these slopes show the perfect gradient of snow sports.

In the Giant Slalom event for Women held at Kangdoori, medals rained in the kitty of Himachal Pradesh as Anchal Thakur, Tunaja Thakur and Promila Thakur clutched away Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively.