PYEONGCHANG - Two Indian athletes traveled to South Korea to compete for India at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Olympic veteran Luger Shiva Keshavan and first time cross country skier Jagdish Singh. Also at the Winter Olympics is Ravi Walia, 44, an Indian-Canadian coach who has trained veteran Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan,27, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, to compete in the Olympics this year.
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Walia himself is a former competitor. He was the 1995 Canadian national bronze medalist and the 1993 national junior champion, representing Kerrisdale Figure Skating Club.Walia serves as a Technical Specialist for Canada. He began coaching Kaetlyn Osmond when she was ten years old.Osmond is the 2017 World silver medalist and a three-time Canadian national champion. In June 2013, Walia was awarded Skate Canada’s “Competitive Coach Award of Excellence”. Canada has send the largest figure skating team to the Winter Olympic this year. The team comprises of 11 entries, for a total of 17 skaters. Keshavan carried India’s flag for a fifth time in the opening ceremony on Feb 9. He was the lone athlete on the Indian team at the parade as his team mate Singh had not yet arrived in Pyeongchang. Singh was dealing with a bit of controversy as the Indian Army, his employer, was in a tussle with the Winter Games Federation of India over who would accompany him at the Games.That issue was resolved when former Olympic cross-country skier Nadeem Iqbal was cleared to go by the Indian Olympics Association after the High Altitude Warfare School, where Singh trains, recommended the coach.
Keshavan finished at the 30th spot in the Singles Run 3 of the Men’s Single Luge event at here on Feb 11 at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Keshavan, who had finished 36th in the earlier round, thus brought the curtains down on a remarkable career which saw him qualify for six consecutive Winter Olympics. He had earlier announced that this will be his last Olympic appearance.
The Indian registered a time of 48.9 seconds, which was 1.396 seconds slower than Chris Mazder of the US who finished first in Run 3. Cross country skier Singh will compete Feb. 16 for his lone event the men’s 15 km freestyle cross-country skiing at his first Olympic Games. For Singh, 26, it was only after he joined the Army that he turned his attention from cricket to skiing. He like his father, joined the Army when he was just 17, after clearing his class 10 exams. Making it to the Army, however, was just the beginning. Being posted in the High Altitude Warfare School , Singh , who hails from Chamoli, Uttarakhand, found it extremely difficult to adjust to the temperatures. But beating all odds, he stuck it out.
After winning the bronze medal in the 2014 National Championships, Singh got opportunities to showcase his talent on the international level. The first was at the 2013 World Championships in Italy, where he came in 62nd out of almost 100 participants.
He followed that up with a good showing in Japan and Finland in 2017, on the basis of which, he booked his spot in the 2018 Winter Games here. Keshavan, the first Indian representative to compete in the luge, qualified for the men’s singles luge by way of his top 38 ranking in the 2017-2018 Luge World Cup standings.
The 2018 Games will be his sixth and final Olympic Games. The 36-year-old Keshavan has represented India at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Keshavan set a new Asian speed record, 83.5 mph, which topped the previous record by 1.5 mph. He won a gold medal in the 2011 Asia Cup and set a new Asian track record in 2012.
Keshavan is the son of an Indian father from Kerala and an Italian mother, who met while backpacking in the Himalayas in the 1970s.His parents run an Italian restaurant in Himachal Pradesh. He was born and brought up in Manali, Himachal Pradesh and attended Lawrence School, Sanawar. He studied humanities and political science at the University of Florence and received a master’s degree in International relations from the University of Florence.In the training off-seasons, he works at his parents’ restaurant. “It’s hard to give up the sports lifestyle and the Olympic movement, I love it and what it stands for,” Keshavan said on Feb 9, the opening day of the Games which will run through Feb 25.
“But I‘m sure I’ll stay involved in the sport because I want to build it up in India now and focus on that. It’s part of the bigger problem, let’s say, for sports, and especially winter sports, in India, and it’s why I think it’s time for me to take a step back as an athlete and go and give a much-needed push, because there is no reason why we should not be having a big team and not doing well,” said Keshavan. Since debuting at the 1964 Games, India has never come close to claiming a Winter Games medal and are unlikely to break the drought in Pyeongchang. “We have the natural resources, we’re not a poor country, we have a big enough talent pool and there’s a lot of passion as well but something is missing,” Keshavan added. “We don’t have the culture or the tradition of winter sports so I think I can fill in that role a little bit.” (Agencies)
Keshavan finished at the 30th spot in the Singles Run 3 of the Men’s Single Luge event at here on Feb 11 at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Keshavan, who had finished 36th in the earlier round, thus brought the curtains down on a remarkable career which saw him qualify for six consecutive Winter Olympics. He had earlier announced that this will be his last Olympic appearance.
The Indian registered a time of 48.9 seconds, which was 1.396 seconds slower than Chris Mazder of the US who finished first in Run 3. Cross country skier Singh will compete Feb. 16 for his lone event the men’s 15 km freestyle cross-country skiing at his first Olympic Games. For Singh, 26, it was only after he joined the Army that he turned his attention from cricket to skiing. He like his father, joined the Army when he was just 17, after clearing his class 10 exams. Making it to the Army, however, was just the beginning. Being posted in the High Altitude Warfare School , Singh , who hails from Chamoli, Uttarakhand, found it extremely difficult to adjust to the temperatures. But beating all odds, he stuck it out.
After winning the bronze medal in the 2014 National Championships, Singh got opportunities to showcase his talent on the international level. The first was at the 2013 World Championships in Italy, where he came in 62nd out of almost 100 participants.
He followed that up with a good showing in Japan and Finland in 2017, on the basis of which, he booked his spot in the 2018 Winter Games here. Keshavan, the first Indian representative to compete in the luge, qualified for the men’s singles luge by way of his top 38 ranking in the 2017-2018 Luge World Cup standings.
The 2018 Games will be his sixth and final Olympic Games. The 36-year-old Keshavan has represented India at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Keshavan set a new Asian speed record, 83.5 mph, which topped the previous record by 1.5 mph. He won a gold medal in the 2011 Asia Cup and set a new Asian track record in 2012.
Keshavan is the son of an Indian father from Kerala and an Italian mother, who met while backpacking in the Himalayas in the 1970s.His parents run an Italian restaurant in Himachal Pradesh. He was born and brought up in Manali, Himachal Pradesh and attended Lawrence School, Sanawar. He studied humanities and political science at the University of Florence and received a master’s degree in International relations from the University of Florence.In the training off-seasons, he works at his parents’ restaurant. “It’s hard to give up the sports lifestyle and the Olympic movement, I love it and what it stands for,” Keshavan said on Feb 9, the opening day of the Games which will run through Feb 25.
“But I‘m sure I’ll stay involved in the sport because I want to build it up in India now and focus on that. It’s part of the bigger problem, let’s say, for sports, and especially winter sports, in India, and it’s why I think it’s time for me to take a step back as an athlete and go and give a much-needed push, because there is no reason why we should not be having a big team and not doing well,” said Keshavan. Since debuting at the 1964 Games, India has never come close to claiming a Winter Games medal and are unlikely to break the drought in Pyeongchang. “We have the natural resources, we’re not a poor country, we have a big enough talent pool and there’s a lot of passion as well but something is missing,” Keshavan added. “We don’t have the culture or the tradition of winter sports so I think I can fill in that role a little bit.” (Agencies)
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