Here's one more Indian sportswoman to crow about. Delhi girl Neha Ahuja has become the first Indian woman to qualify for the Winter Olympics. She is one of four sportspersons to have made the cut for the 2006 Games to be held in Turin, Italy.

While Neha qualified for Alpine skiing last month, it is believed that another sportsperson has made it in the same category with one each in cross-country and luge (racing with sleds).

Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) president Colonel N Kumar doesn't want to reveal the names just yet. "We want to announce all the names in a grand manner. And there are not just four, at least five people have qualified so far, including two women," he said.

Neha told the Hindustan Times  that she couldn't comment till the WGFI officially announced things but did say that the federation and the IOA had been very helpful.

IOA secretary general Randhir Singh seemed unaware of the news but said, "If she's done it, it's a great achievement for Indian sport."

Now, where does a Delhi girl learn to ski?

Neha, whose father SP Ahuja is a BSF officer, first took to the slopes when she was five years old in Kashmir, where her father was posted. She studied at the Air Force Bal Bharti school here and then at the University of Colorado.

The 23-year-old could perhaps have made it four years ago to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City but she ruptured her knee while racing in a qualification event and was out of action for two years.

India's Shailaja Kumar did participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics but the rules were different then — qualification wasn't necessary. Instead, a quota system existed through which a country that had no major representation at the Olympics could send two of its best athletes for the games. Things changed after the 1988 Calgary Games where, though the quota system remained, sportspersons were also required to meet an international qualifying standard.