Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Aanchal Thakur for creating history by winning India’s first international medal in skiing in the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup in Turkey.
Modi tweeted, “The entire nation is ecstatic on your historic accomplishment at the FIS International Skiing Competition in Turkey,” he tweeted. “Wishing you the very best for your future endeavours.”
Well done @alleaanchal for winning an international medal in skiing! The entire nation is ecstatic on your historic accomplishment at the FIS International Skiing Competition in Turkey. Wishing you the very best for your future endeavours.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 10, 2018
Thakur had won the bronze in the competition at the Palandoken Ski Centre in Erzurum on Tuesday.
The athlete’s own tweet read, “Finally something unexpected happened. My first ever international medal.? Federation International Ski Race (FIS). At the end turkey served me well.”
Finally something unexpected happened. My first ever international medal.? Federation International Ski Race (FIS). At the end turkey served me well ??.
PC- @alwyncreed #strangethingshappen #skiteamindia #onehimachal #himalayangirls pic.twitter.com/pjkSddCpi5— Aanchal Thakur (@alleaanchal) January 9, 2018
Thakur told Times of India that her months of hard work had finally paid off.
He said, “Months of training have finally borne fruit. I started well and managed to take a good lead, which helped later in getting the third-place finish,” she said. Her father, Roshan Thakur, who works as the the secretary general of the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI), also spoke to the newspaper and described her achivement as a “breakthrough for the sport in India.”
Aanchal’s father, who’s also the secretary general of the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI), Roshan Thakur, said, ” This is a breakthrough for the sport in India and the entire skiing fraternity is proud of her achievement.”
“Aanchal called me on WhatsApp and showed me the medal. I thought it was some kind of a souvenir given at the end of every FIS event! But she told me that shw won a bronze,” Roshan Thakur, was further quoted by News18.