India to send 15-member ski team to Asian Winter Games

MANALI: A 22-member Indian skiing team, which includes 15 skiers and seven officials, is set to prove its mettle in the 8th

Asian Winter Games

to be held in Sapporo, Japan, from February 19-26 were 32 nations will participate in 64 events. The team, which will leave for Japan on February 17, will compete in alpine, cross country and snowboarding races.

The skiers have been selected from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and the Army. Most of the athletes have participated in many international competitions, including Olympics, and have undergone a lot of practices on slopes abroad. Four skiers are currently competing in world ski championships in Switzerland and they will come directly to Japan for the Asian event. While Shiva Keshavan has already won gold in Asian luge race this season in Japan, now Team India is eyeing first medal in skiing and snowboarding.

Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) president Colonel JS Dhillon (retd) said nine athletes would compete in alpine races, five in cross-country while one would take part in snowboarding race. “The officials include coaches, technical assistants and observers. Our skiers have groomed themselves a lot. Their tireless practice will definitely bring them positive result.”

Avtar Singh from the Army is lone athlete for snowboarding competition and Som Dev Thakur will be his official coach. Nisha and

Sarla Thakur

will represent cross country race in women category while Vikas Rana, Gokal Chand and Ajay Bhatt will be their technical assistants. Mohamed Iliyas and Jagdish Singh will participate in men’s category and JS Dhillon and Satpal Verma will assist them technically.

The alpine skiers include Aanchal Thakur, Varsha Devi, Sandhya, Gayatri Devi and

Preeti Dimri

in women category and Himanshu Thakur, Hira Lal, Arif Khan and Vineet Sharma in men’s category. Roshal Lal Thakur and Khem Raj Thakur will be the coach of women and men skiers, respectively.

Khem Raj Thakur, who is himself a national skier and was selected in national team for the same event in Sapporo in 1990, will be the head coach for Team India. “We shall participate in the opening ceremony and will reach there on February 18. The team will fly from Delhi on Friday,” he said.