Exactly a year ago to this date, India's most successful Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan was contemplating retirement from luge, after failing to attend the World Championships due to lack of funds. Having attended zero tournaments in the past calendar year, the 35-year old headed into the Asian Championships in Nagano, Japan with one solitary goal, the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The willingness to win after a long break away from competition showed, as India's five-time Olympian dominated his competition by winning gold, ahead of local favourite Tanaka Shohei.
Clocking a timing of 1 minute and 39.362 seconds, the Manali-based luger finished almost five seconds ahead of his closest competitor. However, the victory came with its fair share of roadblocks. During the first official training session, Shiva suffered a crash at 130 km/h, injuring himself and breaking his sledge in the process. He would go onto miss two practice sessions, before eventually taking part in the main race.
Almost missed out on the tournament post horrific crash
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda from Japan, he said, “As you know, 2016 started for me on a very bad note because I ended up missing the world championship that I had been training for the event for a long time, but missing it due to lack of sponsors was a horrible feeling. It was only in the middle of the year that I met companies such asMicromax, Mallcom India and Hero Electronix who came forward to support me.
In fact, Mallcom contacted me on Twitter to work a venture out. I was also sanctioned Rs 10 lakhs by the Sports Ministry, which I'm yet to receive. If I can get that I can pay my coach (Duncan Kennedy) his salary. I missed out on every event, but I spent this time working with my new equipment and results are there to see.”
In 2011, Shiva had won gold in the same event at the Asian Championship, but he feels that this victory stands out. He added, “In 2011, it was much closer, but this time I was convincing. Although a lot of mishaps happened, including me not being able to train this week, but I worked on a lot of things during my time away and it helped. All I needed to do was focus completely and if it had to happen, it would.”
Every professional luger has personalised equipment to suit their body type, but due to the lack of finances Shiva used to compete with a generic one over the past two decades. Earlier this year, he tied up with US-based Clarkson University to take his first step towards the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
He added, “For mentally it was very tough because I felt a lot of performance anxiety because of my time away from competition. Even till the second corner, I felt quiet nervous something that I usually didn't before. Plus, we were experimenting a lot with the equipment, so I wasn't sure what would eventually happen. But, everything worked out perfectly and I'm confident I would break the Asian track record as well, but the ice was too soft today.”
Need Sports Ministry to sanction my Rs 10 lakhs grant: Shiva
Having attended just two World Cup events in Lake Placid and Park City, this year have seen Shiva's ranking plummet to 49.
He added, “2017 has a lot in store for me, I have successfully made it to the World Championship and I will also be taking part in 3 World Cup events, thanks to my sponsors. It’s not completely taken care off, but I'm in a stage where I don't have to worry much about it right now. The biggest event is probably in February, the Olympic test event where all the lugers will get a first-hand experience of track in South Korea.
“These events are essential for me to rake up points for World Cup ranking and of course the eventual goal of the Olympics. With the funds I have right now it’s difficult for me to make long term plans, but short term goals are the way to go.”
Getting a tad bit emotional about the victory, he added, “Right now, it's a huge sigh of relief for me. I'm very tired emotionally because of all that's happened in 2016. However, I had faith in myself that I could get through it. But, if I couldn't prove it in the front of the world, there was no point, right?”
Arguably one of the most successful lugers from Asia, Shiva requested the Sports Ministry to support winter sports athletes headed to the Winter Asian Games next year. He said, “There are a lot of talented winter athletes in India, and they are really struggling to garner resources to go for the Winter Asian Games. Unfortunately, my sport won't be a part of the event, but the Sports Ministry should really look into this. If we can win medals with no support from the system, then being a part of it would help the country a lot.”
