Aanchal Thakur created history when she became the first Indian to win an international medal in skiing. Aanchal clinched the bronze at the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup in Turkey on Tuesday. Anchal comes from the hill town of Manali, Himachal Pradesh
“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 TOI from Turkey.
The 21-year-old 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 TOI. “This is a breakthrough for the sport in India and the entire skiing fraternity is proud of her achievement,” said Roshan
“Aanchal called me on WhatsApp and showed me the medal. I thought it was some kind of a souvenir given at the end of every FIS event! But she told me that she won a bronze,” the proud father said.
Aanchal’s journey in international skiing has been financed by her father and FIS . Her father rues the fact that there has been no monetary support from the Centre. “The bureaucrats in the Sports Ministry do not acknowledge skiing as a sport,” Thakur said.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also congratulated her on the achievement.
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