Khelo India Winter Games: Skater Varsha wins gold, gives Karnataka head start

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Srinagar, February 3

India’s skating sensation, Varsha Puranik, once again proved her talent by winning the gold medal in the 300 m short track race for women in the above 17 years category at the Khelo India Winter Games in Leh on Saturday.

It is the fourth edition of this annual event on the Khelo India calendar. This year, the UT of Ladakh is making its debut as hosts, alongside the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, which has organised the games since 2020. The games are split between two venues: Leh for the initial leg from February 2 to 6 and Gulmarg for the latter part from February 21 to 25. While Ladakh oversees ice hockey and speed skating events, Jammu and Kashmir will host competitions in ski mountaineering, Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and Nordic skiing.

Varsha’s Karnataka teammate Akash Aradhya also grabbed attention with his second individual gold of the games.

Varsha and Aradhya, who won the men’s over-17 short track (500m) final at the NDS Stadium in Leh on Saturday, have given Karnataka a head start in the short-form skating competition. Karnataka, with three gold medals out of the five, leads the medal tally.

One more skating gold medal was decided at the NDS Stadium in Leh on Saturday. Telangana won their first gold when Naiyanashri Tallur won the women’s under-17 short track (300m) final. It is interesting to see skaters from the plains doing well in the winter games. Officials say most skaters started as roller skaters and then moved to ice skating.

Varsha was certainly the toast of the day. The 37-year-old who has been participating in international tournaments since 2001, continues to dominate her category. With loads of experience behind her, Varsha, whose last international were the World Games in July 2022 in the US, was a start-to-finish winner, clocking 39.81 seconds.

Aradhya (54.91 seconds) also rode his international experience when he out-sprinted Suyog Tapkir (55.27) of Maharashtra for the gold medal. Aradhya has represented India in various internationals and was the nations flag bearer at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Japan.

The ice-hockey competition also entered its second day on Saturday with top-seeded teams like ITBP, Army and Ladakh in dominating form.

In Group A, ITBP men smashed Haryana 13-0 in the day’s first match with Mohammed Ismail scoring four goals. Army scored a massive 24-0 win against Rajasthan men in a group B game, with Tsewang Dorjey scoring six goals and Tsewang Stanzin netting four. In another group B men’s match, UT-Ladakh trounced Maharashtra 13-0. In the day’s only women’s round-robin match, ITBP humbled Telangana 19-0.