Canadian PM Justin Trudeau participates in Delhi hockey event

Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in a hockey event at the Canadian High Commission here on Saturday.

Canadian ice hockey player and Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser was invited to practice with young Indian girls aspiring to play the sport.

Trudeau attended the event along with his wife Sophie Gregoire. The two also distributed Canada's ice hockey jerseys to the Indian girls.

Wickenheiser, who has represented Canada at the Winter Olympics on five occasions, capturing four gold and one silver medal, told ANI, "It was a great experience. We saw the best of Canada here at this court to play ice hockey which is symbolic of what our country is."

"We believe in girls and women in playing sports and ice hockey is our number one sport in Canada. Having the Prime Minister care about a group of Indian women from Northern Himalayas is incredible," she added.

A day ago, India and Canada also signed a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) on cooperation in sport.

Talking about future bilateral cooperation in sports, Wickenheiser said, "We are going to do a lot of exchanges. We are bringing these girls to Canada next year. We are creating a MoU with hockey in India to help them develop ice hockey here and help them grow their winter sports program."

Shiva Keshavan, a six-time Olympian and the first Indian representative to compete in Luge at the Winter Olympic Games, was also present at the event.

Sharing his experience, Keshavan said, " It was an amazing experience. The people here are very passionate. If Canada can push all winter sports [in India] then it would be a great learning experience for our players."

The Canadian Prime Minister's week-long visit to India ends today.

--ANI