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What's the story?
After winning gold at the Asian Luge Championship, reigning Asian champion Shiva Keshavan is all set to take part in the upcoming Winter Olympics 2018. Having seen the potential of this Olympian, the Sports Ministry has decided to make sure his next stint remains equally fruitful by announcing a grant of Rs 20 lakh for his training ahead of the Pyeonchang Games.
The Winter Olympics of 2018, officially called the XXIII Olympic Winter Games has been scheduled to take place from February 9 to 25 and will be held in South Korea's Pyeongchang county.
In case you didn't know...
Keshavan is the first Indian representative and also a 5-time Olympian to compete at the Winter Olympics in Luge. He is well-known for setting a speed record at 134.3 km/h after having beaten the previous record of 131.9 km/h.
He won a gold medal in the Asia Cup 2011 in Japan and also set a brand new Asian track record at Nagano in Japan. In 2012, he set a new Asian track record of 49.590 seconds.
The heart of the matter
After having been sanctioned a sum of Rs 20 lakh for his training, Keshavan took to Twitter to express his gratitude.
The Olympian received this funding under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme. This heartfelt note of appreciation did not go unnoticed and Anjuna Award winner, Kidambi Srikanth also replied to Shiva's tweet.
What's next?
Stating that Keshavan is a pioneer for the nation at the Winter Games, sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that his needs had to be fulfilled on an urgent basis. Furthermore, this is also a way of promoting winter sports in India.
Author's take
India is replete with talented sportsmen and the Sports Ministry needs to be applauded for helping out deserving athletes like Keshavan.
