Indian ‘destroyer’ Keshavan vows to return to Winter Olympics

Tongan Banani says rugby upbringing prepared him for fast and dangerous sport

Indian competitor Shiva Keshavan makes a run during the men's singles luge at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Adam Pretty / Getty Images

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia // Shiva Keshavan is named after the Hindu god known as the “destroyer”, and after finishing 37th in the Olympics, the Indian 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 International Olympic Committee.

“That’s important. I still have the will to perform better.”

Keshavan, like Tonga’s Bruno Banani, became a fan 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.

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, 26, does not 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. Competing in his first Olympics, he finished a respectable 32nd.

Born Fuahea Semi, he changed his name to that of a German underwear company as a marketing ploy. He 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.”

Just as Indians are hooked on cricket, Tonga is a rugby nation and Banani believes his start in that combative game actually helped him.

“Like every Tongan dude, I really wanted to play rugby union for Tonga, but everyone’s playing. It’s really hard to get to it because they will just pick the best.

“When I decided to try luge, it was the right decision for me.”

He may not have been good enough at rugby, but as a Tongan, he was always going to be tough enough for this sport.

“Getting hurt for [Tongans] isn’t anything,” he said.

“Since I started doing luge, I crashed a lot. The biggest time, I woke up in hospital and didn’t know what had happened.

“I crashed and twisted an ankle or broke some part of my body, but they always think I’m crazy, because after a few days, I would love to get back to training.

“I don’t want anything to keep me away from training. I’d say Tongans are really tough and crazy.”