Khelo India Winter Games 2024: Talent, Hope Aplenty But What's Next For Ice Skaters?

India's top skaters believe the start of the Khelo India Winter Games in Ladakh could be a gamechanger for ice-sports although a lot remains to be done. Shruti Kotwal, India's first professional long track skater based in the United States, and Akash Aradhya, a veteran in short-track sprinting, feel the recently concluded KIWG at Leh held out significant promises for skaters with long-term aspiration. In ice-skating, Kotwal and Aradhya, have been there, done that and are seeing the transformation of winter sports in India. 

With plenty of international experience behind them, Shruti Kotwal and Akash Aradhya, who won a pair of long track and short track Khelo India Winter Games 2024 gold medals each in Leh, think the Nawang Dorjay Stobdan (NDS) ice rink, in the heart of Leh, could become the headquarters of ice sports if it can become an all-weather centre.

Shruti Kotwal was back in India for the first time in 10 years. She competed at Guphuks Pond, a natural water body alongside the Indus River and surrounded by the Zanskar Range that freezes in winter and becomes a skating and ice hockey rink for local Ladhakis. But such rinks are not ideal for top-level competitions that need surfaces to be mirror smooth, well defined tracks and above all, protection along the perimeter.

Short track and long track skating are very different. While long track is all about timing (time trials), short track is a combination of speed and skills to outwit each other in a group race, very much like Formula One. In long track, where skaters try to record their best timings, athletes don't wear a helmet since air friction thwarts good timing. In short track, helmets are mandatory because skaters collide and skid to crash against the side