Leh, Jan. 22 -- Seventeen-year-old Gauri Rai from Haryana had a terrific outing at the 2026 Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) first-leg at Leh's Nawang Dorjan Stobdan Stadium (NDS) on Wednesday as she won gold in the advanced figure skating category.

For the first time in the history of KIWG, figure skating has been included and Gauri, who lives in Gurugram, etched her name in the annals through her solid performance, according to a release.

Like many, Gauri was a roller skater to begin with. But then in 2017, she witnessed a figure skating event at the Ambience Mall in Gurugram and that 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 a...