SHIVA KESHAVAN BRAVES INJURY TO WIN ASIAN TITLE

NEW DELHI: 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. Earlier in the week, the Manali-born Keshavan suffered tendon damage on his left foot after a crash which broke his sled. 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! :) ”

“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.