The Army defended their Khelo India Winter Games team championship title, winning nine gold medals overall, eight in the Gulmarg edition. With four golds on the final day of the competition on Wednesday, Himachal Pradesh ended as runners-up. The closing ceremony of KIWG 2026, hosted by the Jammu & Kashmir Sports Council and managed by the Sports Authority of India will be held on Thursday at the Golf Course here.
The first leg of KIWG 2026 was held in Ladakh from January 20-26, as per a press release from SAI Media.
On a sunny Day 3 of KIWG 2026, Army and Himachal Pradesh won an equal number of four golds each, while hosts Jammu & Kashmir clinched their first gold and veteran skier Bhavani Thekkada Nanjunda of Karnataka, who won a hat-trick of gold medals in KIWG 2025, finished with a top-of-the-podium finish in the Nordic women's sprint across 1.5 kilometres. Bhavani has participated in all six editions of the Khelo India Winter Games.
Zubaid Ahmad Lone finally brought cheer to Jammu and Kashmir by winning the men's giant slalom race in the snowboarding competition. The burly Zubaid warded off a stiff challenge from the Army's Vivek Rana. J&K finished with a gold and a silver in KIWG 2026 and a 10th position in the medal standings.
While Armyman Mayank Panwar was the slalom man of the Games with a pair of gold medals, the Army showed complete domination in the Nordic (cross-country) events. In the gruelling 15 km Nordic skiing race, Mohammad Ali (34:21.49 secs) led an Army 1-2-3 with Padma Namgail (34:36.74 secs) winning silver and Sunny Singh (35:16.83 secs) finishing with a bronze.
In KIWG 2026, there were three skiers who finished with double gold medals. CRPF's Kajal Kumari Rai was on Wednesday joined by Panwar and Himachal Pradesh's Preeti Thakur, who topped in both the slalom and giant slalom races in snowboarding.
Gold- Army 4; HP 4 J&K 1; Karnataka 1
(Relay - men): 1. Army (Tariq Hussain, Rajeshwar Singh, Rovin Singh, Santosh Moktan) 12:51.05 secs 2. J&K (Waseem Akber Sheikh, Tanveer Ahmad Lone, Shahid Ahmad Chaghi, Tanveer Ahmad Dider) 15:57.03 secs 3. Ladakh (Sonam Stanzin, Bashar Ahmed, Zahir Abass, Mohammed Hussain) 16:49.81 sec.
(Relay - women): 1. Himachal Pradesh (Natasha Mahar, Sakshi Thakur, Saijal Thakur, Tamanna (22:03.00 secs) 2. CRPF (Pragatibahen, Preeti, Kajal, Renu) 25:46.04 3. J&K 1 (Yasmeena, Gousia, Rashia, Inayat) 28:23.99 secs.
(Sprint - women): 1. Sakshi Thakur (HP) 4:42.37 secs 2. Natasha Mahar (HP) 4:48.03 secs 3. Stanzin Yangzom (Ladakh) 5:11.58 secs.
(Sprint - men): 1. Santosh Moktan (Army) 2:45.83 secs 2. Siddhartha Gadekar (Maharashtra) 2:53.75 secs 3. Rovin Singh (Army) 2:57.73 secs.
(Giant Slalom - men): 1. Mayank Panwar (Army) 44.810 secs 2. Yogesh Kumar (Himachal Pradesh) 45.083 secs 3. Jekmat Rafstan (Army) 45.305 secs.
(Giant slalom - men): 1. Zubair Ahmad Lone (J&K) 1:17.424 secs 2. Vivek Rana (Army) 1:17.451 secs 3. Kulwinder Sharma (Army) 1:18.716 secs.
(Giant Slalom - women): 1. Preeti Thakur (HP) 1:40.306 secs 2. Prakriti Thakur (HP) 1:53.124 3. Urmila (Maharashtra) 1:56.965 secs.
(Slalom - women): 1. Preeti Thakur (HP) 1:15.194 secs 2. Prakriti Thakur (HP) 1:16.864 3. Urmila (Maharashtra) 1:35.174 secs.
(Men - 15 km): 1. Mohammad Ali (Army) 34:21.49 secs 2. Padma Namgail (Army) 34:36.74 secs. 3. Sunny Singh (Army) 35:16.83 secs
(Women - sprint 1.5 km): 1. Bhavani Thekkada Nanjunda (Karnataka) 4:13.91 secs 2. Renu Danu (CRPF) 4:26.05 secs 3. Kusum Rana (ITBP) 4:26.16 secs.
(ANI)
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