Ice hockey is a sport that is gaining popularity in India.[2][3] It is played mostly in places like Ladakh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir in the north of India, where cold weather occurs and the game can be played outdoors.[4] Ice hockey enthusiasts from other places in the country, as well as expatriates, head to places like Ladakh for the experience of playing in some of the highest elevated rinks in the world. There are a few artificial indoor ice skating rinks in the rest of the country, such as the Doon Ice Rink in Dehradun,[5] which can accommodate ice hockey with an international-sized rink.
Through the 1990s Ladakh developed a strong club scene with regular winter tournaments. India’s men’s national team made its debut in 2009 at the IIHF Challenge Cup in Abu Dhabi, finishing eighth. The following year the Himadri Ice Rink opened in Dehradun as the country’s first international-size indoor facility, but it was closed in 2012 due to high operational costs. That same year India hosted its first IIHF event, the Challenge Cup of Asia in Dehradun.[7]
The women’s national team debuted in 2016. In 2017 the men recorded their first significant result by finishing second at the Challenge Cup of Asia – Division I. A year later India hosted the highest-altitude ice hockey game ever.[8] Financial problems forced the national team to withdraw from the Challenge Cup in 2019, beginning a five-year absence from the international stage.[9]
In 2020 ice hockey became a regular part of the Khelo India Winter Games[10]. In 2023 Royal Enfield, in partnership with Ladakh’s administration and IHAI, launched the “Blueprint for Ice Hockey Development in Ladakh,” a long-term project aimed at eventual Olympic participation in 2042. The initiative included the first Royal Enfield Ice Hockey League in January 2024, featuring men’s and women’s teams from Ladakh.[11]
The country's two oldest ice hockey clubs are Shimla Ice Skating Club, which has existed since 1920 but began playing ice hockey much later, and Ladakh Winter Sports Club, which was established in 1995.[15] The best-known clubs affiliated to the IHAI are:[16][17]
In 2011, an Indo-Canadian film Speedy Singhs based on an Indian ice hockey team was produced by actor Akshay Kumar, who is a fan of the sport. He also made a contribution to the Ice Hockey Association of India to encourage greater participation and awareness in the sport.[19][20][21][22][23]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
