Four Indians to participate in Winter Olympics

NEW DELHI: A seven-member Indian team consisting of four athletes and three coaches will participate in the XXth Winter Olympics in the Italian city of Torino from Feb 10.

Shiva Keshawan (Luge), Neha Ahuja (Alpine Skiing), Hira Lal (Alpine Skiing) and Gupta Bahadur Gurung (Nordic Skiing) are the Indian athletes who have qualified to participate in the Winter Olympics, Winter Games Federation of India president N Kumar said.

Keshawan has already taken part in the previous two editions of the Winter Olympics - at Nagano, Japan (1998), and Salt Lake City, US (2002). For the rest, it will be their first time at the highest level of the sport.

Keshawan got his qualifying points during the Asian Ski Championships at Nagano, where he stood second in the individual luge event and third in the doubles event in December.

Neha got her qualifying points in the slalom downhill skiing at events in Zerzen, Austria, and Solan, Czech Republic, last year.

Gurung stood third at the international cross-country race held at Gulmarg last January, apart from doing well in the classic cross-country races held in Bolu Gerede and Uludag Balkan in Turkey, which enabled him to get the required qualification points.

Hira Lal got his qualification points at the Alpine skiing events held in Nozawa and Shiga in Japan last February. With the exception of Hira Lal, the rest of the athletes have trained with the Japanese Skiing Federation in Hakuba.