Shimla celebrates New Year with ice skating carnival

Shimla : Hundreds of new year revellers thronged Shimla’s ice skating rink to watch the exciting ice-skating festival in this Himachal Pradesh capital.

On display at South Asia’s oldest natural ice skating were events like , ice hockey , ice racing , figure skating , fancy dress and the torch race .

“Over 350 people participated in the ice skating carnival including school children ,” said Bhuvnesh Banga , Secreatry of the Shimla Ice Skating Club said.

Speaking about the long tradition of skating here Banga said , “The annual winter carnival is over 50 years old and is very popular with both locals and tourists.”

“Skating began here during the British colonial era in the 1920s . Famous people like Nehru , Marshal Tito , Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and some of the biggest film stars of the hindi film industry have skated here ,” Banga said.

A tourist from Chennai told the Hill Post , “In the absence of snow this year for new year’s eve in Shimla I really enjoyed watching the unique sport ice skating here .”

Video: Nagender Ranta

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