Skier Aanchal braves hand injury, makes India proud
A FIRST The 21yearold is the first Indian to win medal in an international event
CHANDIGARH: On the evening of January 7, while sharpening her ski blades, Aanchal Thakur suffered a cut on her right hand and the blood won’t stop oozing. She rushed to a doctor to get the gash stitched.
But the braveheart was still in the line-up for the slalom race the next morning. Due to the injury, she couldn’t complete the race. But in the next scheduled FIS race on January 9, she was at the start, determined to complete the circuit come what may. And when she did finish her race, she found she had etched her name in the annals of special Indian sporting moments.
Aanchal, 21, claimed bronze in the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup meeting held at the Palandoken Ski Centre in Erzurum in Turkey on Tuesday, becoming the first Indian skier to win a medal in an international race.
“It was a difficult circuit and in the beginning I was not even confident of completing it. When I discussed my fear with my training mate, she advised me to take it as another training session and aim to complete the circuit. Eventually I was able to do it, and as they say, rest is history,” an elated Aanchal said on phone from Turkey.
“You will find a scar on the hands of skiers as at times they get hurt while tuning the ski blades. I used to think it will never happen to me. Now, I too have a battle scar,” adds Aanchal, who hails from Burva vil- lage in the hill resort of Manali.
Turkey is a lucky destination for Aanchal’s family. It was on the same course where she won her first medal in an FIS (international ski federation) event that her brother had earned qualification for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
CLOSE CONNECTION
“We have a close connection with Turkey,” says Aanchal. “Earning an Olympic quota place was a memorable moment for our family and now again the slopes have proved lucky for us.”
Aanchal has represented the Panjab University in wushu. “In 2016, on the insistence of my sports teacher in DAV College, I started wushu training and won silver in inter-college competition. We hardly get support from the sports ministry, but my father takes care of expenses. My only disappointment is that even in a place like Chandigarh, people have little idea that winter sports exists in the country. It is a tough sport and we have to toil like any other sportsperson,” adds Aanchal, who has been training for 14 years and took part in the 2012 Youth Winter Olympics. Painting, modelling
When she is not speeding down the ski slopes, Aanchal likes to paint and model. “Whenever I have free time from skiing, I am busy painting. Recently, I modelled for a Punjab music video. It will be released soon.
“I came to Chandigarh to go to college and got an opportunity to model.” HYDERABAD: Delhi Dashers entered the semi-finals of the third Premier Badminton League, upstaging North Eastern Warriors in the first match of the Hyderabad-leg at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Wednesday.
Delhi won three matches, including the ‘trump’ tie, to garner four points and swell their points tally to 15 that saw them rise to third spot. The Warriors, despite winning two matches, could add only one point to their kitty and finished the league with 12 points.
Tian Houwei led the Delhi charge by staging a brilliant recovery in his men’s singles duel against Tzu Wei Wang before winning 10-15, 15-8, 11-15. The Chinese, ranked 22 in the world, was down 2-8 in the final game but bounced back to clinch it 15-11 and upset the world No 11.
Wang’s defeat was a big blow for the Warriors as it was their ‘trump’ match which meant they ended up with a negative point.
Interestingly, it was their first ‘trump’ loss of the season, having won all four earlier.
Sung Ji Hyun extended Delhi’s run by overcoming a defiant Michelle Li 13-15, 15-11, 15-13 in her ‘trump’ match. Sung Ji, the world No 3 was the favourite but the Canadian almost caused an upset with her fighting display.
Michelle and Shin Baek Cheol had provided a bright start to the Warriors winning their mixed doubles duel against the Delhi pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Vladimir Ivanov in straight games 15-13, 15-11.
But Wing Ki Wong Vincent helped Delhi level the scores as he won the day’s first men’s singles against Ajay Jayaram 15-13, 10-15, 15-12.
The world No 15 started off well by clinching a tight first game 15-13 only to find the Indian stage a fightback in the second with a combination of deft placements and effective smashes.
Ajay, ranked 38 in the world pocketed the second game 15-12. The third game was evenly poised at 8-7 in favour of the 27-year-old from Hong Kong and he went on to consolidate it by surging ahead to a 12-8 lead.
My only disappointment is that even in a place like Chandigarh, people have little idea that winter sports exists in the country.
AANCHAL THAKUR, On lack of awareness