J&K athletes shined in the recently held 9th National SnowShoe Championship by bagging overall championship title at Sonamarg.
In the championship that saw participation of over 110 athletes from all over Country, J&K athletes bagged 19 medals that included six gold medals, seven silver and six bronze medals. Karnataka with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals finished overall second while as Ladakh with three gold, four silver and five bronze medals finished third.
The event was organized by J&K SnowShoe Association in collaboration with Department of Tourism Kashmir and under the auspices of SnowShoe Federation of India from February 16 to 19 in Sonamarg. Waseem Raja bagged two gold medals for J&K, Shaista bagged two gold , Yasmeena bagged two silver, Aamina Mukhtar bagged one silver and one bronze, team of Adil, Shahnawaz, Muzamil and Suhail bagged gold, team of Javaid Bashir, Abrar bagged gold , Musaib and Asif Teli bagged silver in mixed team, team of Rukaya Majeed and Ziya bagged bronze, Masrat Akhter bagged silver, Madeeha bagged two bronze medals, Shaista Jan one bronze, Asif Teli bronze and Abrar silver.
It is significant achievement for J&K athletes as they snatched back overall championship title from Ladakh who had emerged overall champions last year. The event saw many new faces emerging in the snowshoe discipline, with Waseem Raja dominating the senior races.
The 9th National SnowShoe Championship was held in Sonamarg and at the prize distribution ceremony MLA Kangan Mian Mehr Ali was chief guest.
J&K SnowShoe Association has hailed J&K athletes for their brilliant performance and has termed it as an eye opener for the Sports Governing bodies of J&K who had sidelined SnowShoe discipline in 5th Khelo India Winter Games-2025 which now stand postponed.
“SnowShoe is based and dominated by J&K athletes. We are happy to see our athletes once again bringing laurels for J&K. The competition in SnowShoe is now getting tougher with each year passing but over athletes have kept the pace and are winning maximum medals. It is very tough endurance sport and requires lot of hardwork and training. Running 5-9 kilometers in snow wearing extra equipment at high altitude is not easy,” said J&K SnowShoe Association General Secretary Dr Altaf ur Rehman.