Creating History: Aanchal Thakur wins India’s First International Medal in Skiing
Aanchal Thakur is an Indian female alpine skier. She represented India at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics that took place in Innsbruck.In the 2012 Youth Winter Olympics she took part in the Alpine skiing - Girl's Slalom and Girl's Giant Slalom events.
She took home the bronze in the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by the international skiing federation at the Palandoken Ski Centre in Erzurum in Turkey on Tuesday. The Himachal Pradesh native clinched the medal in the slalom race category.
"Months of training have finally borne fruit. I started well and managed to take a good lead, which helped later in getting the third-place finish," Aanchal told from Turkey.
Her feat is extra special given the lack of culture and infrastructure for winter sports in India. That coupled with the fact that winter sports gets negligible support from the Union sports ministry, just makes the win sweeter.
Aanchal, a resident of Burua, a small village in Manali, is the daughter of the secretary general of the Winter Games Federation of India. She picked up the sport from her father Roshan Thakur, before working with Olympian Heera Lal, according to a report in The Times of India.
Finally something unexpected happened. My first ever international medal.🙌 Federation International Ski Race (FIS). At the end turkey served me well 😇😇.— Aanchal Thakur (@alleaanchal) January 9, 2018
“This is a breakthrough for the sport in India and the entire skiing fraternity is proud of her achievement,” Roshan Thakur told after her win. She has so far been financed by her father or FIS for her trips at times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also congratulated Aanchal on Twitter.
Well done @alleaanchal for winning an international medal in skiing! The entire nation is ecstatic on your historic accomplishment at the FIS International Skiing Competition in Turkey. Wishing you the very best for your future endeavours.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 10, 2018
Congrats Aanchal Thakur @alleaanchal for the Slalom Skiing Bronze in the FIS International Skiing Competition in Turkey.— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) January 10, 2018
India opens account by a first ever medal in skiing 👍
Well done! @jairamthakurbjp pic.twitter.com/vhTReuJwyl
The 21-year-old has previously represented India at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck and also took part in the Alpine skiing – Girl’s Slalom and Girl’s Giant Slalom events, according to the Financial Express.
