** Teacher, manager, mountaineer… now, first cricketer from Ladakh in J&K team

HE HAS trained as a monk, worked as a physical education teacher, been a sales manager at a Decathlon sports outlet, and often taken up the job of managing trekking camps during the tourist season.

But that’s not what Skalzang Kalyan Dorje is excited to talk about over the phone from his home in Leh’s Tukla village, shielding his voice from the cold wind howling outside.

** Eyeing Guinness record, soldier begins 4,300-km run to be completed within 50 days

Last year in June, Naik Velu became the first Indian ultra-runner to complete 1,600 km in just 17 days, a feat which is in the process of being entered as an Asian record.

Naik Velu, serving as a nursing assistant in the 60 Para Field Hospital, is an ultra marathoner who is attempting a Guinness World Record by running from Kashmir to Kanyakumari covering a distance of about 4,300 km under 50 days,” Udhampur-based Army Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lieutenant Colonel Abhinav Navneet said.