Fog, snow fail to dampen thrill, Army, Himachal dominate medal tally on day 3

Gulmarg, Mar 11: With a couple of inches of snow during the night, technical actions over the peaks of Kangdoori to prevent avalanches and dense fog tested the patience of athletes on Tuesday.

The Indian Army and Himachal Pradesh dominated the third day of the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) 2025 in Gulmarg, securing multiple podium finishes across various events. Army’s supremacy was evident in the Men’s Nordic Ski Sprint, where they clinched all three medals, while Himachal Pradesh made a clean sweep in Alpine Slalom Women.

Top contenders from the previous day were Army, Ladakh, & Maharashtra, but the five events scheduled for the day had left competition open to all in the national games event at Gulmarg.

With the gradual opening of games, the needle of the medal tally began to incline towards the Army as their team dominated the men’s ski relay event and raced to gold while the Uttarakhand team scaled silver and the Himachal Pradesh team walked for a bronze medal in the competition. The Slalom Snowboard event for women held at Kangdoori saw thrilling contest among the participants.

Himachal Pradesh was crowned with gold & silver but missed a hat-trick of medals as bronze went to Maharashtra. The podium crowned Preeti Thakur as Golden Girl, Prakarti Thakur as Silver Girl, both Himachal girls, while Urmila Pable of Maharashtra took pride in bronze.

Excited with the gold, Preeti Thakur said that she enjoyed the competition & KIWG 2025. She appreciated the facilities and the support extended by the officials & staff.

The Nordic Ski Sprint Women was again dominated by Kusum Rana of ITBP, who won second gold today, while three-time gold medalist KWIG Bhavanj Thekkada from Karnataka did a late comeback in this competition to obtain silver. The bronze was claimed by none other than Selma Soreng from ITBP, who slipped a step down compared to her yesterday's performance.

For the men’s event of the 15km Nordic Sprint, there were no surprises when Army is in competition. Army proved iron will & grit, bundling all three coveted medals as Sunny, Stanzin, & Thupstan won gold, silver, & bronze, respectively. What surprised about the event was that the Army decimated all competitors and got the top twelve positions in the event, and the streak was only broken by ITBP.

In Alpine Slalom women, Himachal Pradesh players swept medals, with Anchal Thakur, Tanuja Thakur, & Promila Thakur winning gold, silver, & bronze medals.

Deputy Director General, Sports Authority of India, Vineet Kumar, while speaking regarding KIWG, said the games had been a tremendous success as the Sports Authority of India and J&K Sports Council have done a marvellous job conducting games efficiently & smoothly despite the weather conditions like fog, which reduces visibility.

He lauded the coordination of officials, technical staff, participants, and other stakeholders for befitting facilities.