In Kargil Ladakh, the first ever Zanskar Winter Sports and Youth Festival, 2021 concluded at Munskit Chumik Zanskar today.

Member of Parliament (MP) Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal was the chief guest on the occasion while Councillor Cha Constituency Stanzin Lakpa was guest of honor.

MP Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal while addressing the gathering appreciated the UT Administration Ladakh, local departments, Zanskar Buddhist Association, Zanskar Gonpa Association, Zanskar Muslim Association and other concerned agencies and individuals for their efforts in the successful conduct of the whole event.

“This event has been initiated with a huge vision to promote winter sports and tourism in Zanskar. Till date we were attracting tourists with the gonpas and religious sites. But this event is a new vision to develop economic activities at a large extent”, said MP Namgyal.

“Next year this event will be prolonged for around 70 days including trekking on the Chadar Trek. The inaugural ceremony of the next year event will be held in Delhi”, Namgyal added.

MP Namgyal further said that the idea is not to construct big hotels and to let few people get benefits but to develop small guest houses and hotels in all small villages so that each and every household can be benefitted from this event and the tourists visiting Zanskar.

Meanwhile, the guests distributed appreciation certificates among athletes, coaches, organizers and other participants. Various Ama Tsogspa and Nachungma teams, Zanskar Students Association and other cultural teams presented colorful folk songs and dances on the occasion.

Pertinently, 13 days Zanskar Winter and Youth Festival 2021 featured various cultural and sports activities like ice hockey, snow skiing, horse riding, yak riding, ice climbing, snow sculpture, archery matches, local food festival, yoga and meditation sessions and other related activities.

Around 700 people from various different parts of Zanskar participated in the event.