Kargil,February 16 (Scoop News) – City Blue defeated City Red in the final and lifted the 4th Drass Ice Hockey Tournament 2013 which concluded at the Bhimbhat Ice Hockey Ring Drass.
Drass Angles Defeated Domkhar Club in the women section which was introduced for the first time in the main event. A total of 9 teams participated from all over the Ladakh and was started on 7th of February 2013. The Tournament was inaugurated by the GOC 8 Mountain Division Major General Shokeen Chouhan and it was expected that the Core Commander of 14th Crops will be the Chief Guest but due bad weather he was not able o attend the Finales of the Tournament.
The Tournament was organized by the 56 Mountain Brigade in collaboration with Himalayan Sports and Cultural Development Organization Drass.
Brigadier S K Narayanain was the Chief Guest on this Occasion and distributed Trophies and Prizes amongst the Players and winner and runner up teams. Mohammad Shakeel of City Red was adjudged as the Man of the Series.
While interacting with the media S K Narayanian told that Drass is a sports loving area and people love to take part in Sports that is why these adventurous sports gets lot of appreciation and participation from Drass. Army always tries to uplift the talents of the Youths particularly the Girl Child and this year it is seen that more than a dozen of children are taking participation in Training Camps, He added.
Talking about other areas of Sports the Brigadier told that to boost the Caliber of the youths Army has developed beautiful Snow Ski slopes with full infrastructure and provides training and orientation camps every year.
It’s now the need of time that the Civil Administration should come forward and help in the development of these sports and provide a helping hand to the Indain Army.
In Drass inspite of the sobriquet of second “coldest inhabited place in the world”, and its extreme terrain conditions, has always been the vibrant epicenter of all winter sports activities in the region. Historically the people of Drass and areas around have always engaged themselves in various adventure sports, such as Ice Hockey, Skiing, and Horse Polo. The Lack of Infrastructure and equipments was never a hindrance to the indefatigable nature of the people here, who had improvised locally available resources to keep up with their Passion of sports. The Local Ice Hockey Shoe Fitted with Plastic Pipes stands testimony to their spirit.
With progress and development in the area, some changes were also seen in the winter games in Drass. The Indian Army played a vital role in development of winter games according to the modern specification, placing the local teams at par with the global standards.
The landmark events which mark the accretions of Ice Hockey in Drass was started with the formation of Himalayan Sports and Cultural Development Organization Drass (HSCDOD) and Youth Voluntary Welfare Association, the nodal agencies for conduct of hockey matches in Drass. In 2008 the local teams participated for the first time in CEC championship with the help of Army and these two NGO’s.
The Drass Ice Hockey Team with the help of Army participated in National Ice Hockey Tournament at Gulmarg in 2009 and thereafter in the 5th National winter games held at Leh. One Player was selected for the Indian National Ice Hockey Team.
In 2010, the local team of City Club Drass is the Champion of the CEC Cup Rolling Tournament and from the last four years is the Champion of the Tournament. In the same year Drass Ice Hockey Tournament was started.
Women Ice Hockey team participated for the first time in an exhibition match during Drass Ice championship in 2012 , however now for the first time, women hockey events are part of the main events of Drass Ice hockey Championship 2013.