Army goes on top of medal tally, second gold for CRPF’s Kajal Kumari Rai

Gulmarg, Feb 24: The Indian Army surged to the top of the medal standings after clinching their fourth gold medal in the Gulmarg leg of the Khelo India Winter Games 2026 on Tuesday.

The prestigious winter sporting event is being hosted by the J&K Sports Council.

With five more medals decided on Day 2 in Gulmarg, the competition intensified across disciplines. A major highlight of the day was Kajal Kumari Rai of the CRPF, who secured her second consecutive gold medal of the Games, continuing her impressive run.

So far, ten gold medals have been decided in the Gulmarg leg. The Army, which had three golds overnight, added another to take their tally to five in total.

Earlier, they had also captured the men’s ice hockey gold in the Leh leg of the Games in Ladakh.

Haryana maintained second place in the medal tally with four gold medals, all won by their skaters in Leh, while Maharashtra remained close behind, trailing by just one gold.

Maharashtra’s breakthrough in Gulmarg came through Kamiyaa Karthikeyan, who struck gold in the ski mountaineering (vertical) event on the slopes of Kongdoori.

Veteran alpine skier Aanchal Thakur also drew considerable attention. Representing Himachal Pradesh, she claimed her first gold of the Games in the giant slalom, finishing comfortably in 48.984 seconds.

Her statemate Tanuja Thakur took silver, while Karnataka’s promising skier Jiah Aryan once again secured a podium finish.

Kajal Kumari Rai’s emotional journey has resonated deeply at the Games. The skier from Meghalaya powered her way to a second straight gold in the women’s 10 km Nordic event, pushing Karnataka’s Bhavani Thekkada Nanjunda to bronze. The silver medal went to CRPF’s Hiral.

In the men’s 10 km Nordic race at the Gulmarg Golf Course, Padma Namgail spearheaded a clean sweep for the Army, leading a one-two-three finish.

Such was their dominance that Army athletes occupied the top nine positions. Sunny Singh, who had won the Nordic sprint gold on Monday and was the defending champion, finished sixth this time.

With momentum firmly on their side, the Army now leads the standings as the Gulmarg leg heads into its decisive stages.