Nawang dorjan stobdan stadium

United Arab Emirates Figure Skating: Seventeen-year-old Gauri Rai from Haryana had a terrific outing at the first leg of the 2026 Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) at Leh’s Nawang Dorjan Stobdan Stadium (NDS), where she won gold in the advanced figure skating category. For the first time in KIWG's history, figure skating was included, and Gauri, who lives in Gurugram, etched her name in the annals with a solid performance.

Like many, Gauri was a roller skater to begin with. But in 2017, she witnessed a figure skating event at the Ambience Mall in Gurugram, which changed the direction of her journey.

“Roller skating, I had been doing that for a long time. But I always wanted to do something which had both speed and grace and when I witnessed a figure skating event at the Ambience Mall, I knew what I was going to do from there on. From quads to in-line skating to figure skating, it has been quite a journey,” Gauri, who in India colours also won a silver in the United Arab Emirates Figure Skating Championship in Dubai in 2022, said.