Luger Shiva Keshavan and cross country skier Jagdish Singh will represent India in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which begins on February 9.
The 36-year-old Keshavan, the country’s best known Winter Olympian, will be taking part in his sixth Games since his debut at Nagano in Japan in 1998. He represented the country in the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
“It is probably going to be my last Olympics. The qualification wasn’t a big issue for me. But the real challenge is to finish with a career best performance,” the country’s most recognised Winter Sports athlete, who’s best finish in the games was 25th in 2006, had told Scroll in December 2017.
Meanwhile, Jagdish Singh will be representing India in his first ever Winter Olympics at PyeongChang, South Korea.
Jagdish’s participation, though, is still not certain as a standoff ensues between Winter Games Federation of India and his employers, the Indian Army.
According to a report in ESPN.in, the WGFI has proposed two names of officials to accompany the skier. However, the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) has rejected the names and forwarded a name of their own representative.
“I’m excited to have qualified for the Winter Olympics, but I don’t know what’s in store for me,” Jagdish was quoted as saying.
India at Winter Olympics
Other than Keshavan, only a handful have made the mark to participate in the Winter Games. India’s only representative at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, he was joined by the likes of Neha Ahuja and Hira Lal (alpine skiing), and Bahadur Gupta (cross-country skiing) at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
In the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, India had three members in Keshavan, Jamyang Namgial (alpine skiing) and Tashi Lundup (cross-country skiing).
In the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, India had three representatives in Keshavan, Himanshu Thakur (alpine skiing), Nadeem Iqbal (cross-country skiing).
The trio had to walk as ‘Independent Athletes’ behind the International Olympic Committee flag during the opening ceremony as the Indian Olympic Association was under suspension at that time.
During the course of the Sochi Games, the IOC lifted the suspension of IOA and the tri-colour was raised at the Games Village.
With inputs from PTI.
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