Gulmarg: Defending champions Indian Army began their Khelo India Winter Games 2025 campaign in a commanding fashion clinching four out of the 12 medals on offer here on Sunday. Army won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals followed by Himachal Pradesh taking one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Hosts UT of Jammu & Kashmir captured one gold and one silver medal to make it a dramatic opening day of the Khelo India Winter Games second leg.
The Indian Army dominated the Nordic skiing men’s 10km event capturing all three medals. Sunny Singh won gold, Manjeet took home silver and Raj Din settled for bronze.
In Nordic skiing women’s 5km event, Karnataka’s Bhavani Thekkada clinched the gold with a time of 17:43.47. The 28-year-old certified trainer and mountaineer, Bhavani was the only athlete to win a hattrick of gold medals in Gulmarg in the last Khelo India Winter Games edition. ITBP duo of Selma Soreng and Kusum Rana settled with silver and bronze medals respectively.
In the ski mountaineering men’s sprint event, Rajeshwar Singh led the charge for the Indian Army clinching gold with a time of 15 minutes 13.40 seconds. Siddharth Gadekar won Maharashtra’s only medal, taking silver with a time of 15:30.91. Uttarakhand’s Mayank Dimri settled for the bronze.
In alpine skiing men’s slalom, Himachal Pradesh’s Yogesh Kumar took home the gold, followed by Army duo of Jigmet Rafastan (silver) and Bakir Hussain (bronze) completing a 2-3 podium finish.
In the men’s slalom of snowboarding discipline, local favourites Mehrajuddin Khan and Zubair Ahmad Lone completed a 1-2 finish for the hosts followed by Army’s Vivek Rana, who settled for the bronze medal.
In women’s slalom of snowboarding discipline, Uttarakhand’s Menka Gunjiyal dominated the race to pocket gold with an impressive timing of 24:44.90. Himachal Pradesh pair of Sakshi Thakur and Natasha Mahar took the silver and bronze medals respectively to help the state capture three medals on Sunday.
With today’s results, UT of Ladakh leads the medal tally with four gold, two silver and one bronze medals followed by Indian Army with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Previously, UT of Ladakh finished on top in the first chapter winning 7 medals, followed by Tamil Nadu with five medals including three gold. Maharashtra finished with the maximum number of medals (10) but only two gold meant they finished third.
(IANS)
