Ice hockey now being increasingly played by women in Ladakh

Sonam Wangchuk, who is credited to have changed the education landscape of Ladakh, on Saturday said women are increasingly playing ice hockey there.

"Ladakh is the winter sports capital in India, a place where ice hockey and ice skating are quite popular. Fifteen years ago ice hockey was completely dominated by men, now it is a different story. We have a girls' team competing internationally as well," Wangchuk, who was the inspiration behind Aamir Khan's character of Phunsukh Wangdu in the film '3 Idiot', said at a discussion of the CII Eastern Region and Young Indians (Yi) Kolkata Chapter in Kolkata on Saturday.

It began with a football ground being changed into an ice ring with the help of new technique 15 years ago for sportswomen. Gradually schools even in remote places were helped to have teams and slowly ice hockey girls teams started playing in the district, state and at the national level.

"The women ice hockey teams did very well in tourneys in Taipei and Bangkok. In Asia Challenge Cup. So now both men and women's teams doing well in ice hockey," he said at a CII event.