Rajeshwar Singh couldn’t believe his timing of 15 minutes and 13.40 seconds as he led the charge for the Indian Army in the men’s ski mountaineering sprint event with a gold in the Khelo India Winter Games 2025 at the Kongdoori slopes on Sunday.
“It is my first Khelo India (Games) and I just bagged the gold. I still can’t believe it,” the 25-year-old Rifleman of 11 JAK LI, a battalion within the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAK LI) Regiment told Sportstar after the medal ceremony.
Despite being from the mountain-surrounded region of Jammu, Rajeshwar started his journey in winter sports just three years ago, when he got selected by the Army for a skiing training programme.
“This is just the second year of my ski mountaineering career, which started because of the army and now this victory has fueled my ambitions further. I would love to represent my country in international events,” he said.
Maharashtra’s Siddharth Gadekar and Mayank Dimri of Uttarakhand settled for the bronze.
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The defending champion, The Indian Army, asserted its dominance at the start of the second phase of KIWG 2025, capturing seven of the twelve available medals, including two gold, two silver, and three bronze.
In Nordic skiing women’s 5km event, Karnataka’s Bhavani Thekkada clinched the gold with a timing of 17:43.47. The 28-year-old certified trainer and a mountaineer, Bhavani was the only athlete to win a hat-trick of gold medals in Gulmarg in the last edition of KIWG.
Host Jammu & Kashmir captured a gold and a silver medal as local favourites Mehrajuddin Khan and Zubair Ahmad Lone completed a 1-2 finish in men’s slalom of the snowboarding discipline.
In alpine skiing men’s slalom, Himachal Pradesh’s Yogesh Kumar bagged the only gold for the mountain state.
In women’s snowboarding slalom, Uttarakhand’s Menka Gunjiyal dominated the race to pocket gold with an impressive timing of 24:44.90.
The Armed Forces also dominated the Nordic skiing men’s 10km event, capturing all three medals. Sunny Singh won gold, Manjeet took home silver and Raj Din settled for bronze.
With today’s results, the Indian Army moved to the second spot in overall medal tally with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
The Results
Men’s
Alpine Skiing Slalom: Gold – Yogesh Kumar (Himachal Pradesh), Silver – Jigmet Rafastan (Army), Bronze – Bakir Hussain (Army);
Nordic skiing: 10km: Gold – Sunny Singh (Army), Silver – Manjeet (Army), Bronze – Raj Din;
Ski Mountaineering Sprint: Gold – Rajeshwar Singh (Army), Silver – Siddharth Gadekar (Maharashtra), Bronze – Mayank Dimri (Uttarakhand);
Snowboarding: Slalom: Gold – Mehrajuddin Khan (Jammu & Kashmir), Silver – Zubair Ahmad Lone (Jammu & Kashmir), Bronze – Vivek Rana (Army).
Women’s
Snowboarding: Slalom: Gold – Menka Gunjiyal (Uttarakhand), Silver – Sakshi Thakur (Himachal Pradesh); Bronze – Natasha Mahar (Himachal Pradesh);
Nordic skiing: 5km: Gold – Bhawani Thekkada (Karnataka), Silver – Selma Soreng, Bronze – Kusum Rana (ITBP).
