Category Archives: Winter Games 2009

Snow Baseball Championship in Gulmarg Kashmir

Snow Baseball Championship in Gulmarg Kashmir
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Courtesy: ntdtv.com

Young players participated in a snow baseball championship in Indian Kashmir.

The town of Gulmarg gets heavy snowfall during the winter and is covered in white for about six months. The town offers an excellent playground for winter sports.

[Fida Hussain, Organizer]:
“We consider ourselves as the frontrunners of playing this game on snowfields. We want some development in this game as Gulmarg is the perfect spot for national and international championships.”

The sport requires a lot of courage and determination from participants.

[Asif Farooq, Baseball Player]:
“We are happy that we participated in this baseball championship. Now we will be able to play baseball on the snowfields. This is the first time that baseball has been played on snow and our experience has been very satisfying.”

Gulmarg is considered the country’s premier ski resort with its natural slopes and inclines.

Gulmarg Dec 25: (courtesy Rising Kashmir)
Snow Rugby, Snow Cycling and Snow Baseball attracted the tourists at one of the world’s best ski-destination Gulmarg as the Tourism Department organized 3rd Snow Festival to kick start the winter sports here on Sunday.
Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzing Jora, inaugurated the festival in which these summer games were the star attractions.
Twenty-five cyclists participated in the 7 km mass-start snow cycling event, while as the school teams participated in the snow ruby and snow baseball events.


Gulmarg wore the festive look as all the games were played on Sunday.
Chairman JK Rugby Association, Mohammad Iqbal was declared as the pioneer of the snow ruby in the sub-continent.
“I feel proud to be the pioneer as many countries have taken cue from us. They are excited and willing to take part in the event. The snow rugby has turned craze in the sub-continent since its introduction here in Gulmarg,” said Iqbal, adding, “The teams from USA, New Zealand, Fiji, Kazakhstan are expected to take part in a rugby championship in February next year.”

The snow rugby fever has turned girls also to the game.
“This is a treat to play the game on snow. The game is played on playfield which may be dangerous for girls. However, on snow, we feel safe and there is also added excitement,” said one of the players in the event, Dhuha Qazi.
In the girls snow ruby matches, Presentation Convent bagged first place, while as Green Valley and Minto Circle teams bagged second and third place respectively. In boy’s event, Linton Hall, Burn Hall and Green Valley bagged first three places respectively.

Besides, snow rugby the visitors were surprised by the snow cycling event also.
Many mountain bikers participated in the 7km mass start event. They rode up and down the slopes at Gulmarg captivating the attention of the visitors.
NIS qualified coach, Ghulam Rasool Kawa, bagged first place in the event while as Anzil Mukhtar and Mudassir Ahmad bagged second and third place respectively.
JK Baseball Association also had teams to exhibit baseball on the white carpet.

Gulmarg army men to represent India in Olympics

According to bleacherreport.com (Anita Lobo), three Indian athletes will represent India at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games from February 12–28.

The Indian qualifiers are luge specialist Shiva Keshavan, who won Silver at the recent Asian Championship in Japan, Tashi Lundup, and Jamyang Namgyal, who are employed by the Indian Army and stationed at Gulmarg, which is the tiny-but-serving winter sports capital of India.

While this is Keshavan’s fourth Olympics, it’s the first where he has corporate sponsors (Swissair, Limca Book of records, and Reebok) and a full-time coach. There is no such support for the two Army men.

WHAT A SHAME – Update Feb 24, 2010: Overheard (from BBC actually):
Vancouver’s Indo-Canadian community has rallied to provide funding and uniforms for India’s three-man Winter Olympics team… The owner of a sports shop donated track suits for the opening ceremonies, saying the rush was on to get the Indian flag embroidered onto the gear. And a local Punjabi radio station is raising funds for the team – made up of a luger and two skiers.

The luge used by captain Shiva Keshavan is also donated – by lawyers in India. Five lawyers chipped in 450,000 rupees ($9,700; £6,200) after Keshavan’s old luge – held together by duct tape and screws – broke during training in November.

Alpine skier Jamyang Namgial and cross-country skier Tashi Lundup round out the team.

Kashmir Snow Festival Gulmarg 2009

The winter sports season will commence with ‘Kashmir Snow Festival’ in Gulmarg from December 24 and “Night Skiing, cultural programmes, FAM Tours and National Ice championships would be included in the three-day festival.

The season will culminate with national cross-country ski championship to be held from March 11 to 13 next year (2010).

Other competitions slated to be held at Gulmarg include National Junior Alpine Ski Championship and State Ski Championship.