Skiing National Champiosnhip in HP

Shimla, Dec 14 (UNI) Over 200 sportsmen are likely to participate in the National Skiing championship being held at Narkanda in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh from February 11 to 14, a tourism official said today.

Organised by Winter Games Association of India and Himachal Winter Games Association, the championship would bring cheers to the ski lovers of the state.

The spokesman said earlier editions of the national skiing championships were held at Auli, Uttaranchal, Manali in Kullu district and Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir.

Skiing in Narkanda was taking place since two decades and its slopes have a good reputation and skiing experts were all praise for its scenic beauty and label natural ski slopes as one of the best in the world, he said.

He said the preparations were on for organising the championship for which the length of the ski slope has been increased from 300 metres to 550 metres.

A sum of Rs two lakh was provided by State Power Minister Vidya Stokes for increasing the length of the slopes, he said.

The spokesman said over 200 competitors would take part in the competition besides organising competition at juniors and subjuniors category.

The competition, which has been divided into three categories, Alpine skiing, Slalom and Joint Slalom, would help in giving a boost to tourism industry in the state, he added.

UNI AS HS PDS BD2004