Sochi Winter Olympics: Indian luger Shiva Keshavan aims to 'destroy' rivals at next games
SOCHI (Russia): Keshavan, like Tonga's Bruno Banani, became something of a fans' favourite in Sochi, not least because of the novelty of seeing an Indian racing down a luge track.
Shiva Keshavan is named after the Hindu god known as the "destroyer" and after finishing 37th in the Olympics, the Indian has vowed to come back in four years time and wreak havoc on the luge.
"I need to destroy the opposition for the next Olympics," joked Keshavan. "In India almost everybody is named after a god or something because there are so many. Maybe I've got powers but I've not yet discovered them."
He may be 32 and competing in his fifth Olympics but Keshavan says there is more, and better, to come. "I know that I've still got quite a bit of fight left in me and I can still get stronger," said Keshavan, who had to compete as an independent in Sochi after the Indian Olympic Association was suspended by the IOC. "That's important, I still have the will to perform better."
Keshavan, like Tonga's Bruno Banani, became something of a fans' favourite in Sochi, not least because of the novelty of seeing an Indian racing down a luge track.
He took up luge after being scouted by the International Luge Federation following a visit to India by a former world champion. In acountry as cricket-mad as India, Keshavan is hoping his 15 minutes of fame will help to inspire a nation.
"I'm surprised at the amount of interest and publicity this has got back in India and I hope this translates into better facilities, not just for me but for the future generation of athletes.
"It's very important, we're a big country and it's very good that we're playing cricket, we're doing well. But I think there are many other sports that we can take up. There's a lot more opportunities for people so I think it's a good development."
Tongan Banani doesn't hold out much hope of winter sports taking off in the largely flat Pacific island, but he said he was proud to have taken part. The 26-year-old, competing in his first Olympics, finished a respectable 32nd.
The man born Fuahea Semi, before he changed his name to that of a German underwear company as a marketing ploy, was similarly picked following a recruitment drive and moved to Germany in 2009 to train full-time in luge.
"I heard it on the radio that Tonga wanted to send someone to the Winter Olympics," he said. "I don't know why they chose luge but I heard on the radio they would pick someone, so I told myself: ok, give it a try. "They explained that it's fast and dangerous; I left the dangerous part, I like the fast part so I went to the casting. "We had a little try-out, they picked me after that and since then I moved to Germany and started training."
