KIWG 2026: Army retain ice-hockey gold; Haryana emerge overall champions, hosts Ladakh second

Indian Army summoned all their experience to edge out Chandigarh 3-2 and retain their Khelo India Winter Games men’s ice-hockey gold medal here Monday.
The Army’s match-winner came with just three minutes left on the clock and the Ladakh leg of KIWG 2026 could not have asked for a better and thrilling ending.
Haryana won the team championship title of the Ladakh phase of KIWG 2026, thanks to the four golds won by their figure and ice-skaters.
Ladakh (5 silver), Maharashtra (3 silver) and Telangana (2 silver) finished second, third and fourth respectively in the medal standings.
Chandigarh proved that their 3-2 win against Ladakh was no fluke. To come back from two goals down and then almost force extra time was simply amazing. Chandigarh had lost 10-1 to Army in the league stage.
The day began with the 2000m short track mixed relay heats. The teams were divided into two groups of three each with the best three qualifying for the final.
At least three skaters — Nayana Sri Talluri (Telangana), Skarma Tsultim (Ladakh) and Sachin Singh (Haryana) — were in contention for their third gold medal of KIWG 2026.
But Telangana and Tamil Nadu were disqualified from Heat No. 1 and Haryana finished last in Heat No. 2.
The final saw three teams in fray — Maharashtra, Ladakh and Karnataka. Maharashtra had the strongest line-up and that reflected in their performance. The quartet lead by Ishaan Darvekar, Anvayee Deshpande, Sohan Tarkar and Schaleen Fernandes emerged deserving winners with a timing of 3:22.47 seconds.
Hosts Ladakh, led by the speedy Skarma, started well but finally settled for the silver (3:29.34 sec). The Karnataka quartet ran within their limits and were happy to win the bronze.