Shiva Keshavan qualifies for his sixth Winter Olympics

Shiva Keshavan, a three-time Asian Cup gold medallist luger, needed five points to achieve the qualification standard for next year’s Winter Olympics to be held at Pyeongchang, South Korea

Indian luger Shiva Keshavan will make his sixth appearance at the Winter Olympics after qualifying for the 2018 Pyeongchang (South Korea) Winter Games at the ongoing Viessmann Luge World Cup 2017-18 in Innsbruck, Austria.

(File picture) Shiva Keshavan prepares himself for the luge event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. (Getty Images)

The three-time Asian Cup gold medallist luger needed five necessary points to achieve the qualification standard for next year’s mega-event and he managed to achieve that at the World Cup.

Competing in the Viessmann Luge World Cup yesterday, Keshavan, the current Asian Champion, finished 23rd out of 57 athletes with a time difference of 0.701s from the winner.

“I am very happy that I have fulfilled the Olympic criteria, I still have to participate in the next five compulsory races but I am relieved that the pressure for getting the World Cup points is over and I can push myself to take more risks and get closer to the leaderboard,” a delighted Keshavan said in a statement.

“Thrilled to announce that I have achieved the minimum 5 points for Olympic selection in the very first of five qualification races! Thank you for your support and keep following the next four weeks of World Cups,” he later wrote on his Facebook page.

Keshavan thus became the first Indian to have qualified for PyeongChang Winter Games in luge.

Indian athletes in alpine skiing, cross country and speed skating will have the chance to make the cut by January next year.