Sunday, January 16, 2011

Indians excel in ski events on last day of Winter Games

Auli (Uttarakhand), Jan 16 (PTI) Indian skiers won allthe gold medals in the offing on the last day of the firstever South Asian Winter Games, held in two phases in Dehradunand Auli.

The host nation completely dominated the ski events aswell as ice skating events, leaving other participatingcountries way behind in the medal tally.


Arch-rivals Pakistan finished second in the Games whileBangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives failed to even opentheir accounts during both the events.

In women''s Alpine King Slalom Skiing, India''s PreetiDimri won the gold medal while Amina Wali from Pakistan wonsilver. Vandana Devi from the host country clinched the bronzemedal.

Indian skiers also dominated the Cross country skiingcompetition in both men and women events. However, they wereaccorded grades as only two countries contested for thehonour.

India''s Bhubneshwari Devi won the gold medal whilecountrymates Phuntchuk and Yasmeen Attrwon had to be contentwith silver and bronze respectively.

In men''s 15 Km cross country skiing, India''s Nadeem Iqbalgrabbed the first spot leaving behind Karsilampoon and HemantKumar, who finished second and third respectively.

In women''s 10-km cross country, the first position wascaptured by Bhavaneshwari followed by Yasmin Akhtar andMehjabeen, who won silver and bronze medals respectively.

The ski events were yesterday cancelled due to heavysnowfall here. However, the area today experienced brightsunshine bringing cheers on the faces of organisers andplayers.

Later, the Games were officially declared closed byUttarakhand Sports Minister Khajan Das and Tourism MinisterMadan Kaushik.

Speaking on the occasion, Kaushik congratulated allpeople involved with the winter sports for successfulcompletion of the Games. Das also announced to set up anice-rink in Auli on the lines of Doon ice-rink.

The state Chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ''Nishank'' hadearlier opened the ice skating events in Dehradun and SkiEvents in Auli. Both the openings were colourful and eminentsufi singer Kailsh Kher and various Uttarakhand dancersshowcased their talent.

Gharwal rifles and other army bands played various marchpast tunes during the closing ceremony.

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