India in Winter games

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arjun2761
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by arjun2761 »

Yes, hard to believe that we are the only corrupt country in the world but somehow the IOC has chosen to take action against India. Can't believe that the bug countries Olympic association is any less corrupt than ours.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by suresh »

Howeever, we might be the only "in your (the IOC) face corrupt" country given the numerous chances given by IOC for us to hold proper elections.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by kujo »

So the IOA elections are over now and has been accepted to be fair by the IOC observers. Although the closing ceremony will still won't see the Indian flag....

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-spo ... elatedNews
“The IOC observers here have agreed that the elections were held properly and they have signed and accepted the results. The house has urged them to take the results back to the IOC and restore the IOA to the Olympic fold as soon as possible,” Ramachandran said after the elections.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by RohitG »

Thanks Jay! Pakistan had similar issues like us but they resolved it before the Sochi opening ceremony, thus allowing their athlete to participate under their flag. Had we held the elections before the opening ceremony, our guys could have done the same (The ban on athletes was lifted then already) Shiva has been representing us since 1998. He deserves way more support than what he currently gets. I personally feel that he could very well go for Pyeonghchang '18 with full zeal. There are quite a few luge pilots in their 30s and 40s who qualify for this event. In fact, this year's silver and bronze medalists for men's singles luge are in their 40s! Because of the publicity generated in the online world - the athlete profiling on youtube by the Olympics page (3 vids), his street luge training and the latest viral sensation caused by his comeback from a crash, he has attracted a lot of attention around the world. Many Indians have actually watched his runs live for the first time. Heck, I'd say they didn't even know who this guy was a couple of months ago. His sponsorship issues have been eased too.
I remember reading an article where the Govt. was slow in payment or something and our guys had to wait for their equipment but Shiva had got it covered thanks to better sponsorships (by MTS, Swiss air, OGQ etc) Shiva had mentioned in one of his press/fan interactions about having preliminary talks with Force India for sled related modifications. A lot of luge pilots especially from the main countries (who have 3 athletes each for this event) get their sleds designed by F1 franchisees. If improvements continue, I won't be surprised to see him break the top-15 or top-20, with anything better as a bonus. He must have been demotivated this time, but he can do well and get his best result next time, even though there are a lot of upcoming youngsters in the sport. Experience does matter. If not, I think he could do something like Gopichand and inspire our next lot of youngsters, which could result in more athletes representing us and maybe one day, we'd have our first Winter Olympic medalist. Hope he qualifies for '18. :goodluck:
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by kujo »

Yes, Luge athletes seem like wine - as they age, they continue to get better. The Italian guy (40 year old) who won the bronze has got a medal in this event, for 6 consecutive Olympics (some sort of a record!).

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/sport ... .html?_r=0
To discover how the 40-year-old Italian luger Armin Zöggeler has remained at the top of his sport for more than 20 years, I persuaded him to tell me his secrets. “Apples,” he told me. “And I have lots of noodles for lunch, and steak for dinner every night.”

Apples, noodles and steak? That’s it? That’s how Zöggeler could become the first person to win a medal in six consecutive Winter Games
Shiva is 32 years old and he could potentially be at two more Winter Olympics (2018 and 2022)!
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by prasen9 »

RohitG wrote:If not, I think he could do something like Gopichand and inspire our next lot of youngsters, which could result in more athletes representing us and maybe one day, we'd have our first Winter Olympic medalist.
Who cares :devil:? I hate snow :-(
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by suresh »

Guess what! N. Ramachandran, the new president of IOA, is N. Srinivasan's brother. Now we can be assured that IOA is very good hands.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by kujo »

Yes, if he is even half as strong willed and strategic as his brother, IOA is in good hands...
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by Mugundan »

kujo wrote:Yes, if he is even half as strong willed and strategic as his brother, IOA is in good hands...
Make no mistake, IOA will be governed by the Chauthala group. Ramachandran could not have become treasurer (previous IOA) without this group's backing nor could he have become president now without their backing. The dominance of the group was evident when both Abhay Chauthala and Lalit Bhanot attended the election meeting even though they did not vote.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by kujo »

Phew. what a relief, atleast they can now see the Indian Flag in IOC village and march under it, during the closing ceremony.

Thanks Mugu for posting this info, quickly....

http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-executi ... dia/224038
It is the first time in Olympic history that a suspension of an NOC has been lifted during an Olympic Games, and the decision will have an immediate impact. Indian athletes entered the Sochi Games under the Olympic flag during the Opening Ceremony on 7 February 2014, and have competed as Independent Olympic Participants. The EB decision means they can now compete for the National Olympic Committee of India and will walk behind their national flag at the Closing Ceremony on 23 February.

To symbolically mark the lifting of the suspension and in recognition of the three Indian athletes competing in Sochi, the Indian flag will be raised in the Olympic Village.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by arjun2761 »

Lot's of respect to Shiva Keshavan for participating in this and previous winter olympics along with a couple of others with complete apathy by our sports infrastructure.

However, I'm not sure how proud it makes Indians to be simply participating in the mode of the Jamaican bobsled team (i.e., as more of a comedic act than as serious athletes). I am not sure if I'd simply prefer that we don't participate if we have a really low level performance in a particular sport.

Another example was India sending a women's water polo team to the last Asian Games which simply served as a punching bag for their opponents. We'd probably have been better off not sending that team.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by PKBasu »

Shiva Keshavan is an authentic Asian champion in his event (luge) having won gold in 2011 and 2012 at the Asia Cup -- and set the Asian record twice. But, despite the fact that Japan, Korea and (northern) China have lots of snow, it appears that Keshavan is only around 40th in the world (perhaps worse). He seems to have done some heroic stuff in practice on February 7th (falling off his luge, but managing to acrobatically climb back on, a video that went viral on YouTube...), but still finished around 37th of 39 competitors in his heat.
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Re: Sochi 2014 winter Olympics

Post by RohitG »

Out of the 5 Olympics in which Shiva has represented us, this was his worst performance. The top-40 luge pilots get entry into the Olympics (with a criterion of 3 pilots max for a country) As PKB mentioned, Shiva's credentials are noteworthy. Before this Olympics, he got a medal in the Asian Championships again. However, this time it was a silver (behind the Japanese guy) But yes, he's a multiple gold medalist and has Asian records to his name. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that he's the only winter sports athlete in our country to get that "elite athlete" status by the Govt. He achieved the 25th position in Torino '06 which I feel is not a low level performance. You can't just win a medal out of nothing. The reason why I take pride in following Shiva is basically because he's achieved a lot with so much little. Now I know that he gets a lot of funding, but he doesn't even have a personal coach and what he gets as facilities is very less as compared to what his peers get (even the Asians) He had to partner the US luge team last year too. Somebody has to set an example for the next set of players. Most of the sports where India has achieved success till date, never had first-time athletes from our country shining in it.
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Re: India in Winter games

Post by jaydeep »

Shiva Keshavan won another gold medal at the Asian Luge Championship ... Keshavan dominated this event and finished the second heat race with a time of 1 minute, 39.962 seconds and the top speed of 130.4 km/h.

Shiva Keshavan grabs gold at Asian Luge Championship
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