21-year-old Aanchal Thakur from Manali etched her name in history books after she won India's first-ever international skiing medal.
Aanchal won bronze in the coveted Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup at the Palandoken Ski Centre in Erzurum in Turkey. The event was organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS), the international governing body for skiing. She won the medal in the slalom race category.
What makes Aanchal’s achievement so special is that there is no culture, or even infrastructure, for winter sports in the country and there is hardly any support from the Union Sports Ministry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who follows Aanchal on Twitter, took to the micro-blogging site to congratulate her.
I worked hard day in and day out for this medal. I never thought the Prime Minister would tweet for me. It is unreal. I just hope we are finally treated at par with other athletes. As of now, there has been no support whatsoever from the governmentAanchal Thakur
Skiing runs in her blood but it has not been an easy ride for the the 21-year-old, who is a student of DAV College in Chandigarh.
Her father Roshan Thakur, who is the secretary at the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI), always loved skiing and therefore it was natural for his children, Aanchal and Himanshu, to pick up the sport at an early age.
A professional skier requires skis, boots, bindings, poles, helmets, suits, goggles and gloves to compete. These equipment alone costs around Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
Aanchal said if it was not for the efforts of her father, there was no way she could have pursued skiing.
“As of now, there has been no support whatsoever from the government. Without any government help, you can imagine how much my father has spent on me and my brother. What makes it more challenging for us is that it doesn't snow in India for the major part of the year we have to go abroad and train,” said Aanchal.
The fact that Winter Games Federation of India is not recognised by the Sports Ministry also doesn't help their case.
Her father Roshan adds that existing skiing venues in India at Gulmarg and Auli are only world-class during competitions and are not looked after well otherwise.
With a historic medal in the bag, the next target for this wushu player-turned skier is the qualification mark for the Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang in South Korea in February.
While her brother Himanshu is closer to the qualification mark, making the Winter Games cut this year seems difficult for Aanchal, but she has already set her sights on 2022.
(With inputs from PTI)
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