Gulmarg (J&K): To provide a fillip to winter sports in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya announced the government’s plans to convert Gulmarg into a sporting hub for winter sports here on Wednesday. The Union Sports Minister said this while attending the closing ceremony of the fifth Khelo India Winter Games at the Gulmarg Golf Club.
The closing ceremony was also attended by the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and J&K Minister of Youth Services & Sports, Satish Sharma, among others.
“India has got immense talent, and we have to find and nurture it from 9 years to 24 years. To be able to do this, we have to create a sports school in each district across the sub-continent, where raw talent will be scouted and then trained at National Centres of Excellence across the country.
“We will ensure that they are able to compete at national and international levels with all the support these youngsters require. Jammu & Kashmir is already organising one of the best upskilling coaches’ programmes among all Indian States. I have conveyed to all States to follow the coaching model created by J&K,” Dr. Mandaviya said during his closing ceremony address.
“The Indian government has a responsibility of developing sports across the country, and Narendra Modi’s government will put in all efforts to help elevate the level of sports in Jammu & Kashmir. We plan to create a sporting hub for winter sports here in Gulmarg to give the youth of Jammu & Kashmir the best opportunity and infrastructure to excel in sports,” he added.
Dr Mandaviya said he met sports ministers of 28 States and 8 Union Territories and senior members of National Sports Federations to create a proper roadmap in the build-up to hosting the 2036 Summer Olympics. “Keeping in mind that we want to host the 2036 Olympic Games, we have to develop a robust sports infrastructure and a quality sports ecosystem. For this, we will have to create a proper roadmap. Many times, we set a goal, but the pathway required to reach it is missing. For this, we had a three-day brainstorming session with the sports ministers, senior representatives of National Sports Federations, renowned athletes, and sports experts in Hyderabad last week. We created a roadmap for the next 10 years with the inputs we received from all stakeholders,” he said.
The Union Sports Minister said that Gulmarg was known not just as a meadow of flowers but had now also come to be known as India’s Winter Games city. “I have visited many foreign countries and skiing destinations, but I can tell you that Gulmarg is way better, way more beautiful, and one of the best tourist and skiing destinations in the world. We just have to use opportunities to make the destination even better,” he said.
Army crowned overall champions
Dr. Mandaviya handed the overall champions trophy to the Indian Army, who clinched 18 medals, including seven gold, five silver, and six bronze, to defend their title.
Army faced spirited competition from Himachal Pradesh, which had to settle for the runner-up title with six gold, five silver, and seven bronze medals. The Union Territory of Ladakh came third with seven medals, comprising four gold, two silver, and one bronze.
Himachal Pradesh came up with their best performance on the final day by winning the women’s relay gold medal in ski mountaineering but had to settle for second position behind the Indian Army, who retained their Winter Games title by virtue of winning one more gold medal than their rivals on Wednesday. It was heartbreak for Himachal Pradesh as they had clinched seven medals the previous day, including a clean sweep in the Alpine skiing women’s slalom event.
Army defended their Winter Games title thanks to an exposure trip to the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, which gave their confidence a big boost. The jawans, majorly stationed at the High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg, took advantage of local knowledge and acclimatization to extreme weather conditions, including continuous snowfall, strong chilly winds, the threat of avalanches, and poor visibility.
The Winter Games saw the Indian Army reign supreme in the Nordic skiing events, while Indo-Tibetan Border Police ruled the same discipline in the women’s category.
The KIWG witnessed a plethora of multiple medallists including Rajeshwar Singh (2 gold and 1 silver in ski mountaineering), Kusum Rana (2 gold and 1 bronze in women’s Nordic skiing), Sunny Singh (1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze in men’s Nordic skiing) and Siddharth Gadekar (1 gold 1 silver in ski mountaineering), among others.
Also evident from the medal tally is that the States with no natural topography for winter sports have fared well in this edition of the Khelo India Winter Games, only proving that the relentless efforts of the Government of India to popularise this niche game are bearing fruit. States like Maharashtra, with 13 medals and Tamil Nadu, with five medals, are enough proof of this.
In the last edition, the Army finished on top of the medal tally with 10 gold, just one more than Karnataka and three more than No. 3 Maharashtra.
(IANS)
