Srinagar, Dec 2: Department of Tourism, Kashmir along with Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) under the auspices of J&K SnowShoe Association conducted Gulmarg SnowShoe Championship at ski resort of Gulmarg, Sunday.
In a press release issued here the Association said that the competition, which was flagged off by Chief Executive Officer GDA Syed Hanief Balkhi along with PDP Youth Secretary and Sports Promoter Arif Laigaroo, Director CP Advertisers Mushtaq Bashir, Director Amblin Hinan Bhat, senior national athlete Gulzar Khan and International cyclist Akber Khan, saw 21 young athletes hailing from Srinagar and Budgam districts participating in the event.
The Association further said that the competition was held with the aim to carry on winter sport activity in Gulmarg as well as introduce the sport of SnowShoe among school going students. For that purpose, the students of Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute Srinagar and Spring Buds School Ompora were specially invited and then put on against some of the former SnowShoe champions, the press release added.
However, in a major surprise, the student of Spring Buds Suhail Farooq who was competing for first time in snowshoe event finished first ahead of the former champions Umer and Ifshan who finished second and third respectively.
CEO GDA Syed Hanief Balkhi said termed it as a great initiative stating that sports culture among the youth needs to be enhanced. “Modern lifestyles have reduced physical activates while as physical activities, particularly sports, are still very famous in Europe, USA and South America. Such events ensure that our youth and our children have an opportunity to stay connected with sports,” Syed Hanief Balkhi added.
“We will continue to support and promote such activities apart from our regular activities of snow skiing and snowboarding. The advantage with snowshoe racing is that we can conduct it in present kind of condition as well were we have very less snow accumulation. Also anyone who is physically fit can compete in it and doesn’t require specific skill set like in skiing,” he added.
Arif Laigaroo on the occasion said that he was always available for the promotion of sports and promised to keep promoting sports activities and sportspersons.
While congratulating the winners, Mushtaq Bashir said that he was sure that Tourism department, GDA and other associated institutions shall continue their patronization of sports events.
