Gulmarg: Defending champions Indian Army began their Khelo India Winter Games campaign on a strong note, clinching seven medals, including two gold, here on Sunday.
Indian Army won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals, followed by Himachal Pradesh taking one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Hosts Jammu & Kashmir bagged one gold and one silver medal to make it a dramatic opening day of the Khelo India Winter Games second leg.
Army dominated the Nordic skiing men’s 10km event, clinching all the 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 won the gold with a time of 17:43.47.
The 28-year-old certified trainer and a mountaineer, Bhavani was the only athlete to win a hat-trick 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 ski mountairneering 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 the 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, while the Army duo of Jigmet Rafastan (silver) and Bakir Hussain (bronze) completed a 2-3 podium finish.
In the men’s slalom of snowboarding event, 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, 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.
