Gulmarg (J&K), March 10 (IANS) Maharashtra’s Siddharth Gadekar and Tenzin Dolma of Himachal Pradesh were the stars on Day 2 in challenging weather conditions in the second leg of the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) 2025 at the scenic Kangdoori slopes here on Monday. Defending champions Indian Army continued their golden run in the second leg, clinching four medals, including two gold, one silver, and one bronze, to sit atop the medal standings with overall four gold, four silver, and five bronze medals.

With continuous snowfall since early Monday morning making the competitions a tough test of endurance and stamina, Tenzin Dolma, a 40-year-old skier from Manali, showcased rare mental strength to clinch her first-ever medal in the Khelo India Winter Games with an impressive time of 13:07.41. Dolma’s statemate Natasha Mahar (13:39.39) took the silver, and Menka Gunjiyal (14:16.23) of Uttarakhand settled for the bronze.

“This is my first visit to Gulmarg, and I really enjoyed competing here a lot. The surface is good and the arrangements are also nice. Since I am an ultra-trail runner, I didn’t have much trouble in vertical ski mountaineering.

“I am a mother of an 18-year-old daughter. I don’t come from a sporting background. I started ski mountaineering watching my friends, who were into some winter sport or the other. Age for me is just a number as I keep doing well in the upcoming competitions and create my identity,” Tenzing Dolma was quoted as saying by SAI Media.

Siddharth Gadekar, the only athlete from Maharashtra in the field, started training for ski mountaineering just two months back and in a short span laid his hands on two medals – a silver in the men’s sprint and a gold in men’s vertical competition.

“Today’s race was an important one for me as this is my main event, and winning a gold medal was equally satisfying. A lot of hard work has gone into this achievement. Until last year, I was coming to Gulmarg as a mere spectator, and this time, in my debut at the Khelo India Winter Games as an athlete, I have finished on the podium twice. Winning a gold is definitely more soothing, but the silver in my first event of the competition will stay with me forever,” Siddharth told SAI Media.

The Indian Army made a clean sweep of the Nordic skiing men’s sprint event, with Manjeet taking the gold medal, clocking 4 minutes 21.14 seconds. Shubham Parihar (04:22.93) clinched the silver, and Sunny Singh (04:30.94) captured the bronze medal.

Similarly, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) dominated the Nordic skiing women’s 10km event, clinching all three medals. Leading ITBP’s charge, Kusum Rana, added gold in the Nordic skiing women’s 10km after taking bronze in the women’s 5km event the previous day. Selma Soreng then pocketed her second silver of the Winter Games. Anjana Devi made it a clean sweep for ITBP by taking the bronze.

Jammu & Kashmir’s Zubair Ahmed Lone captured the gold medal in the snowboarding men’s giant slalom event, followed by the Army duo of Kulvinder Sharma, who finished as runner-up, and Karan Sharma, who took home the bronze.

--IANS

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