DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW

Against all odds, Bhavani T.N. is scripting history for India and herself in cross-country skiing

- Shail Desai

Last month, Bhavani T.N. and her coach, Gianluca, evaluated her performance at the Raiffeisen Langlauf Cup in Dobbiaco, Italy. Her timing of 18 minutes and 3 seconds over the 5-km cross-country skiing course had pleased both. It was a good start to their nascent, month-long partnership, an indicator of their efforts heading in the right direction.

The next minute, the loudspeaker announced: 'Silver...Bhavani T.N., India. The lunch abandoned, she ran to the presentation area in disbelief. "I told them there had been some mistake. But they simply asked me to get on the podium," Bhavani recalls. The silver was historic-the first international medal for an Indian woman in the discipline. And it came against all odds, given that Bhavani took to the sport just three years ago.