Luge lord ploughs a lonely course

Not that it matters to Keshavan. Nicely settled in Florence, Italy, where he’s studying political science, he’s happy that he’s contributed in some way to Indian sport. ‘‘Nagano and Salt Lake have been such an incredible experience. No other sporting event that I have participated in comes even close to them. One thing that no one can take away from me is the the honor and pride that I felt while I walked in to the stadium at the opening ceremonies. I knew that I was representing one sixth of the world’s population, and since I had qualified, the Indian flag was flying next to the flags of all the great nations of the world, right next to the Olympic flame. That was definitely the most emotional moment for me at the Games.’’

If public recognition — or the lack of it — doesn’t upset him, the government’s apparent apathy rankles. ‘‘He went to Nagano with a borrowed sled; the uniform for the opening ceremony was picked up from a street market. All this, when he had to compete with people having the best equipment. It was all a joke’’, says Sudhakaran KP, Shiva’s Manali-based father. And things were scarcely better at Salt Lake City, and in fact his ranking slipped five places from Nagano, 28 to 33.

‘‘The luge tracks are more than 1300 mts in length and my finishing time in Salt Lake was 45.881 seconds against the 44.546 of the gold medalist. Luge is a very close-run sport and every small detail makes a difference to the timing. I have been competing in world-class events for five years now, and still don’t even have my own sled!’’

Sometimes the situation is ridiculous, he says. ‘‘I have not received any support from the Indian government, sports organisations and don’t have any personal sponsor. The equipment that I use is all second-hand gear that I managed to get from some ex-lugers. My sled is not made for my body measurements, nor is my suit. In luge, races can be won or lost only because of material and equipment’’, Shiva laments.

‘‘The Indian Federation received $3,500 just for the participation in the Salt Lake City Games. He had supposedly won a monthly scholarship worth $1200, but I have got no idea where that has gone. I will definitely take up the matter with the Sports Minister Uma Bharti’’, says an agitated Sudhakaran. However, all this not deters the young star from forfeiting his ultimate goal: that of winning an Olympic gold.

‘‘I know that simply with better equipment, I will be a lot faster than many of the competitors that finished ahead of me at Salt Lake. I am determined that, no matter what, I will be a top contender for the gold medal at the Torino Winter Olympics. My goal is to win the Olympic gold. I know that I have the odds stacked against me but I’m also sure that I have it in me to achieve that. I have got in touch with the coach of the Italian team who has been very kind and has prepared a summer training program for me which I am following. He is an Olympic medalist himself.’’