Google “Ice Stock” and the search engine throws the result of how the shares of American multinational financial services company Intercontinental Exchange performing in stock market. You have to type “Ice Stock Game” or Ice Stock Sport” to know about a sport that is played on ice.
Icestock, the sport, has been in existence for over 200 years now and has its origins in Germany. In India it is relatively new as it was introduced a little over a decade ago. The sport is popular in Kashmir. The Indian Icestocksport Federation was only constituted in 2012.
Despite being a relatively new and niche sport in India, the country’s Icestock contingent made a significant impact on the global stage when Aadil Manzoor Peer clinched a bronze medal at the 2025 Icestock World Championship in Austria. This achievement marks India’s first-ever medal in the competition, making it a historic and groundbreaking moment for Indian sports.
Aadil hails from Jammu and Kashmir. He is a four-time gold medalist at the Khelo India Winter National Games and is the captain of Indian National Ice Stock team.
The Sportz Planet caught up with the medal winner to know more about Ice Stock, his journey in Ice Stock, the challenges the sport faces in India and much more.
Excerpts of the interview are below:
Could you first start by telling us about your sport Icestock? It is not so popular in India.
Aadil: Icestock is a Winter Game. It originated in Germany. It has been played for last 200 years. This game has its Summer version as well, which is played on synthetic turfs.
Ice Stock as the name suggests is played on ice. There are five events in the game. Recently one more event has been introduced but it was not played at the World Championship. Maybe it will be played at the next World Championship.
Two teams of four members each participate in a game. The competitors throw or slide the “Stock” on ice. The aim is to throw the “Stock” as far as possible. We have to either aim for a target, or to cover the longest distance. The long distance is like javelin throw. It was in the long distance event that our team clinched the bronze medal when we finished fourth at the World Championship.
Sounds like an interesting sport. Could you tell which countries are good at this sport!
Aadil: When we talk about top teams in the world, there is definitely Germany! Then Italy and Austria are also good at this sport. Because the sport has its origin in Germany, so the countries neighboring Germany are good at this sport.
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How did you start playing Icestock?
Aadil: I started my sporting journey in 2007 with Rugby.
Icestock was introduced in India back in 2012 by our coaches Irfan Aziz and Mohammed Iqbal. Back then the President of the International Federation Icestocksports Manfred Schäfer introduced the game in Gulmarg. It is easy for us to train here for Icestock because we have ice for most part of the year, so we can train more.
In 2012 I was in Gulmarg for sight-seeing that is when I came across the sport. I found it interesting. Then I tried it. That is how I started playing the sport. Over the years I have won many medals in the sport.
I am good at the long-distance event of Icestock. The long-distance event requires precision and strength. But I think in any game the eagerness to win is the main skill.
You have also participated in Khelo India Winter Games and won medals. I want to understand how are Khelo India Winter Games helping India’s sporting eco-system?
Aadil: Khelo India Games are helping India’s grassroot sports. If you provide athletes platform at grassroot level, then it will boost athlete’s skills, confidence, handling of pressure. When you participate in multiple events you gain more experience.
So Khelo India Games or the National Games helps us in upgrading our skills. It is very crucial.
In Khelo India Games athletes from all over India participate. So you get to know about different cultures. You get to know many athletes and you learn the strengths of different athletes. and you try to hone those skills. Then you start working hard in those areas.
If you fail somewhere you try to learn more. You either win or you learn!
You come from Jammu and Kashmir. So could you please highlight the difficulties that you have encountered in your sporting journey.
Aadil: For any game, there are challenges, there are difficulties.
If we talk about cricket. It is so well known. There is a saying that when a kid is born in India he is born with bat in his one hand. But there are difficulties in cricket as well.
But in my sport there are some different challenges. Firstly it is not so well known. Most of India doesn’t know about the sport. The infrastructure for the sport is not built yet. We don’t have proper equipment. We don’t have proper sponsors. When it comes to big games and competitions, you need sponsors so that you can focus on the game and the rest is taken care of.
In our game we have to look for sponsors. So we keep thinking if we can participate in an event or not. Because when you are travelling to play you need funds. If you don’t have those funds then it affects your training schedule. It affects your mental health as well. That is a big challenge. There have to be some agencies who can sponsor us. The main challenge in this sport is sponsorship, the infrastructure and the equipment.
The equipment that are used in Icestock are not made in India. Not only in India but these equipment are not manufactured anywhere in Asia. So we import them from Europe. These equipments are very costly. One stock, body, handle and plate, everything together costs around ₹90,000 to ₹ 1,00,000.
These are the hurdles.
So do you plan to continue playing Icestock?
Aadil: I am in this sport. I want to win a medal for India in this sport at the Winter Olympics. Icestock is part of the 2030 Winter Olympics. Hopefully our team represents India at the 2030 Winter Olympics. We are eyeing a medal there.
Finally, from your experience as an athlete what can be done to help India become a better sporting nation?
Aadil: India has a lot of potential in plenty of sports. For that we need infrastructure. If we don’t have infrastructure, we cannot produce world-class athletes.
There should also be schemes to support athletes. The big organizations should “adopt” talented athletes just how Inspire Institute (of Science) is doing.Similarly many other organizations should step up. These organizations and institutes should guide the athletes right from the start till the Olympics. They should provide proper platform which will increase our medal winning ratio.
Nothing much can be done without proper infrastructure, equipment and sponsorship.
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet Desk
