Figure skating and Ice hockey kicks off in Everest region  

Kathmandu: Figure skating and ice hockey have kicked off in Gokyo lake in the Everest region of Nepal from February 14, 2020.

The newly designed adventure and sports tourism product of the year along tourism promotional campaign will exhibit international figure skating and a friendly ice hockey match at an altitude of 4,790m to promote Nepal as a destination for winter sports.

According to Visit Nepal Year 2020 Secretariat, the event will feature alpine figure skaters, avid climbers, ice hockey trainers, and adventure enthusiasts. Olympians from the US and Canada, including Jeremy Abbott of the US – the 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, Patrick Chan of Canada – a former competitive figure skater and a 2018 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, Elizabeth Putnam of Canada – a former competitive pair skater, Matej Silecky of the US – a member of the 2012 US Collegiate Figure Skating Champion team, Junior Men, Nick Kalisz – an ice hockey player and filmmaker, and Laura Kottlowski of the US, a figure skating gold medalist are also taking part in this winter sports event.

Likewise, Tsewang Namgail, Tashi Largyal, Jigmet Rinchen and Tinlass Glasston – members of Indo-Tibet Border Police Team that recently won the Indian Ice Hockey Championship, and players from Russia, including Dmitriy Viktorovich Dudarev – one of the participants of 2010 IIHF World Championship, Sergei Evgenyevich Voronov – the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy Winner, and Aleksandr Chekashev, a former professional ice hockey player are also participating in the event.

Suraj Vaidya, the national program coordinator for the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, said that the launch of this event will also mark as the first-ever introduction of the ice rink in Nepal which is going to be the highest ice rink in the world.