Union Minister Kiren Rijiju hands over the Arjuna award certificate to luger Shiva Keshavan, Saturday. (Express photo)Five years ago Shiva Keshavan had expressed fear that he would be compelled to prematurely quit the sport of luge as he didn’t have enough funds to go on. On Saturday, as six-time Winter Olympian and four-time Asian Champion was conferred with the Arjuna award in a virtual ceremony presided by president Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi, the 38-year-old rued only two things. First, that he got the Arjuna award even as his home state Himachal Pradesh still hasn’t found him eligible for its highest sporting honour, the Parshuram award; and second the hill state hasn’t given him cash rewards due to him for his sporting achievements.
Keshavan, who retired from the sport after his sixth Winter Olympics at PyeonChang in 2018, is the first athlete from winter sports to be conferred with the Arjuna award.
“It is a feeling of satisfaction that the achievements in winters sports have been recognised officially by the country. Such a recognition shows that what I have done is not just for me but for the whole winter sports community. While the recognition has come after all these years and my retirement, it will help broaden the horizon of winter sports in the country. Sadly, I got Arjuna before the Parshuram award, the highest sporting honour of Himachal. I was nominated by HPWGFI and Mountaineering Institute, Manali earlier but I am still waiting for hear a word from the state government,” Keshavan said while speaking with The Indian Express from Delhi.
With his father Sudhakar running an adventure sports shop in Manali since late 1970s and mother Rosalba running a cafe, a young Keshavan would always head to sled in the ski slopes at Solang valley or nearby places during holidays. It was in 1997 that Keshavan trained with a sled with wheels when the International Luge Federation organised a scouting camp at his school in Kasauli. While the camp was undertaken by Austrian former world champion Gunther Lemmerer, the then 16-year-old Keshavan impressed all during the runs from Kalka to Panchkula highway on the sled. The same year, Shiva would train in Austria and was chosen to represent India in his first Winter Olympics in 1998 – at the Nagano Winter Olympic Games. “As somebody, who was born at Manali, I always felt that Himalayas is in my blood and love for winter sports came naturally to us. Later, I would attend coaching camps by the international Luge Federation abroad and training among proper facilities in European and other countries helped me learn the right techniques and the aptitude for the luge sport,” adds Keshavan.
In the following years, Keshavan would go on to represent India in five more Winter Olympics and win 10 medals in the Asian Championships including four gold, four silver and two bronze medals. He was appointed as the chief coach as well the high performance director by the Luge Federation of India earlier this month and the luger believes that there is a need to prepare right infrastructure for winter sports. “For luge, one needs natural as well as artificial tracks. While youngsters and experienced players in Himachal Pradesh learn and practice luge by building tracks on snow slopes and beating the ice manually, there is no artificial stadium or cured slopes apart from a proper course in the state. And we are talking about a state, which has produced 13 Winter Olympians. While the state government is making more cricket stadiums, the need is to make an artificial winter sports complex. In European countries and USA, ski resorts are made where athletes train apart from letting tourists use the facility. So tourism sector acts as a conveyor belt to keep the funding for the infrastructure going,” shared Keshavan.
The Arjuna awardee is also waiting for cash awards from the state government for his six Winter Olympics participation, medals won in Asian Championships, and participation in world championships and world cups. As per the HP sports Policy in 2016, Keshavan should have got cash award for participation in Olympics and winning medals in Asian Championships but the athlete has not got any award. “Initially, I did not apply for any award from the Himachal hovernment as I was busy in making my preparations. Starting 2012, I started submitting my application for the state Parshuram award and cash awards and also met officials and sports ministers. I don’t know even the exact amount of the pending cash award money but it will be in excess of Rs 2 crore according to the past sports policies too. In 2015, another player had filed a PIL in Shimla High court about getting winter Olympics participation money and the court gave the order in 2018 to give the money but I still have not got the cash award,” says Keshavan.
Contacted, Ajay Sharma, secretary, Sports and Youth Affairs, Himachal Pradesh, said he will look into the matter. “I am not aware of no cash award being given to Shiva Keshavan. Since I have joined one week ago, I need to get the details and will look into the matter,” said Sharma.
As for Keshavan, he will be heading to Manali Sunday. “I have told my friends that no meetings in the next few days and they can greet me from a distance,” he said.