Srinagar 5th March:The National Nordic (Cross-Country) Ski Championship concluded at Gulmarg today with an impressive demonstration organized by the participating athletes. Earlier the last event of the Championship 30 Kms long distance for men was conducted in the Gulmarg bowl. Jagdish Singh and Padma Namgyal of High Altitude Warfare School Gulmarg bagged gold and bronze medals for their School and Shubham Parham of Indian Army lifted silver medal.
Major General Atul Kaushak was Chief Guest on the concluding function while Col Dhillon, Director Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering was the Guest of Honour. Among others three Olympians Nanak Chand, Nadeem Iqbal and Jagdish Lal were present on the occasion. The winners were presented medals and all others were awarded the participation certificates.
The Winter Games Association of J&K is very keen to hold the National Junior Alpine Ski Championship at Gulmarg but the bleak financial position has come in their way. They had approached the State Sports Council, J&K Bank, Tourism Department and some corporate houses to sponsor the event but no fruitful results have come as yet. Muhammad Yusuf, General Secretary WGAJK informed that either due to lack of snow or financial constraints no national level championship could be organized at Gulmarg for last some year. The Association organized last championship in 2014 and since then the buddying skiers are badly suffering. The association has appealed the Sports Minister to help them out.
