Shiva reclaims Asia Cup title

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India’s Shiva Keshavan retained his Asia Cup title in style setting a new record enroute his triumph in the final at Nagano in Japan, according to information received here on Sunday.

In the process, he also bettered the Asian record by 0.482 secs after clocking 49.950 secs in the second run for the gold medal, and is now only 0.017 secs behind the Olympic mark.
Keshavan didn’t have had a great start as he was placed second after the first run, 0.129 seconds behind Japan’s Hidenari Kanayama.
Last year’s runners-up Oguchi Takahisa was also not far behind in the third place, 0.058 seconds behind Keshavan. During the first run itself, the top three had broken the previous track record of 50.072 set in 2004. However, the defending champion roared back in the second run, settting the new Asian mark and clinched the title with an aggregate time of 1:39.631.
The Japanese duo, Kanayama (1:40.086) and Takahisa (1:40.150), finished second and third respectively.
After his record second run, Keshavan was confident that it will be difficult for others to catch him. “I lost control of the sled for a moment in the first run at curve 6 but I managed to avoid a crash. The track conditions were very different from what we experienced this week but we were prepared for any eventuality. I knew the moment I finished the second run that it would be extremely difficult for the others to catch up with me.
“I’m glad all the preparation of the team paid off at the right moment, and that the Cup is coming back to India,” said an elated Keshavan after the second run.
Meanwhile, International Luge Federation vice-president for Asia, Jae-Ho Chung, said, “We can see that the level of Asian athletes has risen tremendously in recent years. With the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Korea, we can expect athletes from Asia to dominate this field.”