Leh, Jan 22 (PTI) Tamil Nadu’s Avikshit Vijay Viswanat and Udreka Singh from Madhya Pradesh demonstrated their prowess with a gold-medal winning performance in the men’s and women’s 500m long track event on day 3 of the Khelo India Winter Games here on Thursday.
Haryana continued to lead the medal tally, courtesy the pair of figure skating gold medals won on Wednesday. Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh share the second spot with a gold each while hosts Ladakh is at sixth position with two silver and two bronze.
While 19-year-old Avikshith defended his Khelo India Winter Games gold from last year with a timing of 43.48 seconds, 15-year-old Udreka, in her third KIWG, has shown remarkable improvement over the years.
Wearing long track boots and blades for the first time, Udreka (53.94 seconds) sped to the gold ahead of local favourite Skarma Tsultim (54.21 seconds). Tasnia Shameem (57.41 sec) of Ladakh won the bronze at Gupukh’s Pond, a frozen water body beside the Indus.
“We’ve been friends since I started skating. Defeating Skarma feels good because she’s a local and has the advantage of training in high-altitude conditions in Leh. Athletes from the plains always struggle a bit, so this win is special,” said Udreka to SAI Media.
“There have been times when Skarma has been faster than me … it keeps switching between us. I am happy that both of us will be on the podium tomorrow.” Primarily a roller skater who switched to ice skating only a year ago, Avikshith’s four-month training in the Netherlands ahead of the event benefited him.
The top six positions in this race were shared between Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Danda Chandra Mouli (43. 97) of Andhra won the silver while Karnataka’s Harshit BT (44.13) won bronze.
In ice hockey, Army won their second straight match in group A. Having beaten Himachal Pradesh 5-1 in their opening match on Tuesday, Army romped to a 10-1 win against Chandigarh at the NDS Stadium on Thursday.
Padma Norboo scored thrice while Tsewang Dorjay and Jigmath Kunzang scored a brace each.
In the women’s competition, both Ladakh and ITBP were on course for another final showdown with emphatic wins against Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, respectively. Ladakh women had beaten Haryana 7-1 in their opener. PTI ATK UNG
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