Skiing, snowboarding tourney begins in Kullu

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Mandi, February 13

Manali MLA Bhuvaneshwar Gaur inaugurated the state-level skiing and snowboarding championship in the Solang Nullah near Manali in Kullu district yesterday. The Himachal Pradesh Winter Games Association (HPWGA) is organising the event.

While addressing the players, Gaur said that the state government was promoting winter games on priority. As soon as there was snowfall in the Solang Nullah in the coming days, the Junior National Winter Games would also be organised there.

He congratulated the organisers of the tournament and announced Rs 1 lakh for successfully organising the event. The MLA said that the association was doing good work to promote sports. With the cooperation of the government, snow beating machines would be arranged and efforts would also be made to develop the slopes of the Solang Nullah.

Gaur honoured alpine skier Sahil Thakur, who had participated in the Youth Olympics held in South Korea from January 19 to February 1. He congratulated Sahil and said that the government would provide him all possible help.

Ludar Thakur, president of the HPWGA, said that more than 300 players from across the state were participating in the championship. He added that the competition would continue for three days and the players, who perform well, would be selected for the national competitions.

Ludar said the Tourism Development Council and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute were helping them in successfully organising the championship.

Director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute Avinash Negi, Manali SDM Raman Sharma, Manali DSP KD Sharma, along with Palchan panchayat’s BDC member Reshma Thakur and representatives of all the panchayats and the association were present on the occasion.