Defending champion Shiva Keshavan bags gold at Asian Luge Championships

Altenberg, December 2: Shiva Keshavan, India’s veteran Winter Olympian bagged a gold medal at the Asian Luge Championships which was held in Altenberg, Germany on Friday. Notably, Shiva Keshavan bagged yellow metal after finishing a race with a time of 55.60 seconds.

 

Defending Asian champion Shiva Keshavan who was the lone Indian participant in the tournament also retained his title. Keshavan started slowly and steadily in the race but later recovered the lead after the second corner. However, during the race in the Infamous Curve 11-12 combination, Keshavan's sled started a sideways skid but the Indian controlled and retained the lead.

Shiva was followed by Lien Te-An of Taiwan (56.12 seconds) and Kim Dong-Kyu of Korea (56.50 seconds) who bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively. Silver medalist in the last season of Asian championship Kim Donghyeon was outclassed in this same technical portion but, however, luckily came away with only minor injuries.

Shiva Keshavan after winning the gold medal said, "I am so proud to bring the gold medal back to India for the fourth time. The track is one of the most difficult in the world and I have had a few bad crashes here in the past. So it was a challenge on many levels.” He also thanked all his sponsors.

Importantly, due to technical reasons, the Asian Luge Championships took place at Altenberg in Germany. The race was originally scheduled in Nagano, Japan which was shifted to the EisKanal in Germany due to technical issues at the Nagano 'Spiral' Venue that had adverse safety implications for the fastest Olympic sport on ice.

Now, Keshavan will represent India at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Alpensia Sliding Centre at Pyeongchang in South Korea for his record sixth Olympics.