India’s first Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan braved an injury to win gold at the Asian Luge Championship in Nagano, Japan on Friday.
The 35-year-old Shiva Keshavan dominated the event and finished the Asian Luge Championship race with a time of 1 minute, 39.962 seconds and top speed of 130.4 km/h to clinch the title.
Japan’s Tanaka Shohei came in second with a combined time of 1:44.874 seconds and top speed of 124.6 kmph, while the bronze medal went to Chinese Taipei’s Lien Te-An, who clocked 1:45.120 with a 126.3 kmph top speed.
{{/usCountry}}Japan’s Tanaka Shohei came in second with a combined time of 1:44.874 seconds and top speed of 124.6 kmph, while the bronze medal went to Chinese Taipei’s Lien Te-An, who clocked 1:45.120 with a 126.3 kmph top speed.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the week, the Manali-born Keshavan suffered tendon damage on his left foot after a crash which broke his sled and as a result, he had to miss a major part of the official training for the Asian Luge championship event.
But, it did not cause any problem for the veteran winter Olympian as Shiva Keshavan dominated the competition to win his third gold medal at the Asian Luge Championships.
Keshavan expressed his joy through his official Facebook page, saying, “Thrilled to announce that I’ve just own GOLD at the Luge Asian Championships 2016! Details Soon! :) ”
It was also a brilliant end to 2016 for the 5-time Winter Olympian as earlier this year, Shiva was forced to withdraw from the 2016 World Championships due to lack of funds.
“I was determined to not let anything deter me from the gold medal this time, so despite all the obstacles I decided to risk everything in the race. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all my supporters and sponsors Mallcom Ltd., Hero Electronix, Hero Fincorp and Micromax, without whom I would not have been able to get back on track and win this medal for India,” Shiva said.
Shiva Keshavan is slated to take part in the 2017 World Championship in Innsbruck, Austria and will compete in the World Cup circuit in the lead up to the qualification process for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea.
(With inputs from PTI)