The Khelo India Winter Games-2025 (KIWG-25) start today on 23rd January 2025 in Navang Dorjay Stobdan Sports Complex, Leh (Ladakh). The event features 428 athletes from 19 competing teams. The games will be played under freezing conditions with minimum temperatures as low as minus 10°C. The fixture will continue for the next five days across two events- Ice Hockey and Ice Skating, making the first part of KIWG-2025. The second part, featuring snow games like Skiing, will be hosted by Jammu & Kashmir from Feb 22 to 25.
Such frigid conditions are very essential for the indoor/outdoor events for the icy turf to sustain. Outdoor events, like Skiing in the second phase, largely depend on the thickness of the snow cover. In case of snow deficit, the conduct of sports becomes uncertain and risky. The events, sometimes need to be postponed or called off, as it happened last year. This year also, all the mountains across the northern belt have a high snow deficit, so far.
There is no strong western disturbance likely to move across the northern mountains. Heavy snowfall in the mid and higher reaches of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir is unlikely in the remaining days of January 2025. The ball rolls over to February, to save the grace of the occasion. As per the climatology and stats, the western disturbances become more frequent during the month of February. However, the duration of the weather activity becomes short, but frequent during this period. At this moment, keep the fingers crossed, and hope for the successful conduct of the second phase from 22nd – 25th Feb 2025.
Image Courtesy: State Times
