Khelo India Winter Games 2026: Army Tops Medal Tally as Kajal Rai Strikes Second Gold

The Indian Army surged to the top of the medal standings at the Khelo India Winter Games 2026 after bagging its fourth gold medal in the Gulmarg leg on Tuesday, while the day’s standout performance came from CRPF Nordic skier Kajal Kumari Rai , who clinched her second consecutive gold of the competition. Five medals were decided on Day 2 of the Gulmarg leg, taking the total number of gold medals awarded so far at this venue to ten.

With the latest gold, the Army now has five gold medals overall , including the men’s ice hockey title won earlier during the Leh leg, and leads the medal tally. Haryana continues to hold second place with four gold medals, all earned in skating events held in Leh, though Maharashtra remains close behind, just one gold adrift. Maharashtra opened its gold account in Gulmarg after Kamiyaa Karthikeyan won the ski mountaineering (vertical) event on the Kongdoori slopes.

Veteran alpine skier Aanchal Thakur of Himachal Pradesh lived up to expectations, winning gold in the giant slalom with a timing of 48.984 seconds . Her statemate Tanuja Thakur finished second, while Karnataka’s promising young skier Jiah Aryan once again found herself on the podium. In the women’s 10 km Nordic race, Kajal Rai continued her golden run, winning convincingly despite the emotional weight of having lost her father last year. The Meghalaya-born skier relegated Karnataka’s fancied Bhavani Thekkada Nanjunda to bronze, with fellow CRPF athlete Hiral taking silver.

The Army also asserted its dominance in the men’s 10 km Nordic race, where Padma Namgail led an emphatic one-two-three finish. Such was the Army’s superiority that its athletes occupied the first nine positions. Sunny Singh , who had won the Nordic sprint gold on Monday, finished sixth in this race.

The 2026 Khelo India Winter Games , currently underway in Jammu and Kashmir, mark the seventh edition of the event. The Games are being held in a two-leg format , with the first leg conducted in Leh, Ladakh , featuring ice events such as ice hockey and speed skating, followed by the second leg in Gulmarg , dedicated to snow disciplines including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and ski mountaineering.

Several states had made their mark in the Leh leg, including Telangana , which secured six medals from the ice events. A major highlight for the state was Nayana Sri Talluri , who won gold medals in both the women’s 500m and 1000m speed skating short track events , underlining Telangana’s growing presence in winter sports traditionally dominated by northern and Himalayan regions.

Hosted by the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council , the Khelo India Winter Games continue to serve as a key platform for identifying and nurturing winter sports talent across the country, with the competition intensifying as the Gulmarg leg progresses.