Khelo India Winter Games continued in Gulmarg on Sunday with SnowShoe run flagged off amidst continued snowfall and low visibility.
Among the major events held on Sunday in the games was longdistance SnowShoe run for senior and junior men’s category. Due to hostileweather conditions the distance for the men’s senior category was reduced from8 to 5 kilometers while as for junior from 5 to 3-kilometeres. In the run 16top athletes from all over J&K and four athletes from Uttarakhandparticipated.
The run was flagged off by Secretary Sports Council DrNaseem Javaid Chowdhary in presence of CEO Gulmarg Development Authority,Assistant Director Tourism Nasir Mehmood, President J&K SnowShoeAssociation Tariq Ahmad Zargar, Olympians Gul Mustafa, Nadeem and number ofother seniors players and officials.
In senior category, Suhail Nisar cruised to victory with thetiming of 34.08. He defeated World bronze medalist Muzamil Hussain Mir by eightsecond difference. Umer Farooq finished third with the timing of 35.19 seconds.
In junior category, it was World junior silver medalistAyaan Bin Shahnaz who cruised to win with the timing of 24.23 while as MaqsoodSofi finished second with the timing of 24.40. Haadi finished third with thetiming of 24.50. All the podium positions in the SnowShoe event were grabbed byJ&K players.
In the following days of Winter Games , athletes fromLakshadweep would be joining SnowShoe events in sprint categories.
Meanwhile, a seven-year old athlete Mohammad Amaar of DelhiPublic School was youngest SnowShoe athlete during the SnowShoe run as heimpressed everyone by finishing fourth in the junior category.
J&K dominate skiing events
After a late start J&K athletes dominated the Alpineskiing events in Children’s category that were held on the second day of KheloIndia Winter Games 2020 at Gulmarg on Sunday.
In the Alpine Skiing, children’s C1 category, Syed Zain ofJ&K bagged first place while as Romainul Madina of J&K and PriyanshKanwar of Uattarakhand bagged second and third places respectively. In C 1Girls category, Mehak Kanwar of Uttarakhand bagged first place while as AizaNoor of J&K and Naira Makhdoomi bagged second and third place respectively.In C2 Girls category, Jaza Ahmed of J&K bagged first position while asRubab Ali Punjabi of J&K and Rida Altaf also of Punjab bagged second andthird positions respectively.
In sledging raceMohammad Rafique Lone, Parvaiz Ahmad Lone and Abdul Rashid Lone bagged firstthree positions respectively. In Ski Cycle race , Naveed Ahmad Reshi baggedfirst position while as Shabir Ahmad Chak bagged second and Rizwan Ahmad Reshibagged third.