It gained’t be a petite fulfillment in any respect for Bharat to get its first indoor and, due to this fact, an all-weather ice hockey rink up and operating in Leh, and that’s what drove a military of officers right here, together with Aivaz Omorkanov, vice-president for Asia and Oceania within the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The paintings at the venture has accrued momentum ever since Ladakh used to be bifurcated from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and was a isolated union field. And if issues proceed to proceed as deliberate, the times when the Indian ice hockey groups may just handiest follow for 2-3 months on frozen ponds and lakes in winters can be a factor of the month in a couple of era’s while.
The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, BD Mishra, together with the Sports activities Secretary, Ravinder Kumar, is spearheading the venture and invited the IIHF delegation to study the web page in Leh and provides their inputs.
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Omorkanov, who old to constitute Kyrgyzstan right through his days as a participant, did an intensive assessment and inspection of the segment, together with Harald Springfeld, IIHF Recreation Building Supervisor for Asia and Oceania.
“We gave some inputs from the IIHF side, which can be implemented at this stage of the project,” stated Omorkanov, speaking completely with Timesofindia.com in Leh. “At the same time, we met the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, together with the Sports Secretary. We had some productive discussions and are looking forward to great cooperation between all the sports entities here in Ladakh and, of course, in India overall.”
Ice hockey in Bharat is in its nascent level and striving to grow to be part of mainstream sports activities and to succeed in the later ranges. A larger a part of the reason being the new climate dominating climatic situations in maximum portions of the rustic, which is why 90 p.c of avid gamers who’ve represented Bharat in ice hockey, each women and men, were from Ladakh.
Omorkanov felt {that a} nation that is without doubt one of the lead international locations in garden hockey too can proceed up the ranks in ice hockey.
“I would like to say, and to highlight, that India is one of the best and strongest countries in the world in field hockey, which puts India in a good position to play very well in ice hockey…We see big potential in Indian ice hockey, especially with the field hockey background,” Omorkanov instructed TimesofIndia.com
(Timesofindia.com Photograph)
With nations within the heart east, which don’t have any wintry weather season, hanging all-weather ice hockey rinks in park, the IIHF sees refuse explanation why it may’t be completed throughout Bharat, and no longer simply in Ladakh.
“India is not the only country that has the high-temperature issue. We also have the middle east, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, who actually have the same issue. They are working on it, developing the infrastructure, building (all weather) ice hockey arenas, and now, as you might know, Saudi Arabia will be hosting the 2029 Asian Winter Games,” Omorkanov added.
“The purpose of IIHF’s visit is to coordinate with the Ice Hockey Association of India to have the proper infrastructure and environment in India in place and make the next steps.”
All through their seek advice from to the stadium web page, the IIHF officers have been not hidden keenly sifting in the course of the pages of the design deliberate for the stadium, as the previous captain of the Indian males’s hockey staff, Tundup Namgyal, defined the proposed line.
(Timesofindia.com Photograph)
“First of all, it is very essential to have more dressing rooms. It (the proposed model) first seemed to have only two dressing rooms, so that’s why the input from our side was to increase the number of dressing rooms to also host international events. At the same time, we reviewed the driveways for the ice-resurfacing machine and walkways of the athletes,” Omorkanov stated, sharing his inputs with Timesofindia.com.
“These were actually the two biggest issues that we could see today.”
At the query of investment infrastructure for international locations which are in a creating section in ice hockey, Omorkanov stated IIHF isn’t at a level the place it would aid this type of initiatives monetarily.
“Direct investment or direct development support, I mean money-wise, is not foreseen from the side of the IIHF. What we are doing is helping with development activities in the whole Asia and Oceania region…We are having a big joint venture with the Olympic Council of Asia, which is a development camp, in which we conduct several activities,” Omorkanov stated.
“We are not as big as cricket or FIFA or FIBA. So that’s why we are looking into different options of helping and supporting our members.”
Cash, in fact, is usually a bulky factor in citing an all-weather ice hockey rink, which comes to a accumulation of technicalities, starting from laying the underground chilling mechanism to differentiating the temperature between the taking part in segment and the spectator galleries, and so forth.
(Timesofindia.com Photograph)
The UT of Ladakh has the cheap of round Rs 60 crore for the stadium venture in Leh. As soon as this venture is finished, the outside area in Kargil may also be become an indoor all-weather facility.
“There is more accessibility in Leh (compared to Kargil). So our effort is first to establish this (Leh) project and then we will implement the same in Kargil,” Ravinder Kumar, Secretary for Sports activities and Formative years Affairs in Ladakh instructed TimesofIndia.com.
“The indoor rink being built here in Leh has an approximate budget of Rs 60 crore. As far as the tentative timeline (for completion), we hope that the roof and the indoor chilling mechanism is completed by this winter. Whatever will be left we will complete in the next season,” Kumar added.
Omorkanov, in the meantime, additionally met officers from Royal Enfield, which is supporting ice hockey in Ladakh as a part of the corporate’s CSR tasks and Moses Kunzang, who’s the Joint Director for Sports activities and Formative years Affairs in Ladakh.
He rounded off the dialogue via expressing that the IIHF would additionally wish to meet Bharat’s Sports activities Minister, Anurag Thakur, to talk about the advance of ice hockey within the nation.
“Our focus is not only one state, but the whole India with all its states. I would say that after a meeting with the Sports Minister, we would like to expand our focus to the whole of India.”
