India’s alpine skier Arif Mohammed Khan made his debut at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday when he skiied in the men’s giant slalom event. Apart from this event, Arif will also be participating in the slalon event as he is the first athlete from India to qualify for two different events of the Winter Olympics. The Jammu and Kashmir man clocked one minute 22 seconds during his attempt.
He was 19.42 seconds behind Switzerland’s M Odermatt who sit atop. While the men’s giant slalom event is being held on Sunday, slalom will take place on February 16.
Notably, Slalom is an event that involves skiing between sets of poles spaced at a distance from each other. The distance is greater in giant slalom than in slalom.
India had two representatives at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea as Jagdish Singh.
Arif said in an interview with PTI that he knew 10 years ago that he would one day represent the country in the global showpiece. Taking to skiing seemed natural to Khan as his father Yasin owns a ski equipment shop at Gulmarg which is near his village. He was introduced to skiing at the age of four by his father who had made a small ski slope just outside the shop. Khan began competitive skiing when he was 10 years old and at 12, he won a gold medal in the slalom at the national championship.
In 2011, Khan won two gold medals – in the slalom and giant slalom – at the South Asian Winter Games in Dehradun and Auli.
“So, I was the fastest skier in India by then. After the gold medals, I knew that I will one day represent the country in Winter Olympics, it was going to be only a matter of time," Khan told PTI from the Games Village in Beijing.
“I should have qualified (for Winter Olympics) earlier but it did not happen due to certain reasons. So, it will be a dream come true moment (on Sunday). I am proud to represent 1.4 billion Indians and to put my region in Olympics map," said the 31-year-old.
India had declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games after China fielded the regimental commander of the People’s Liberation Army, who was injured during the 2020 military face-off with Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, as a torchbearer for the event’s Torch Relay.
“It was the country’s decision and the call from the government and I have no issues with that. You cannot go against the decision of the government of your country. I was happy with whatever I was doing," Khan said.
“I was feeling great for my people back home. A lot of people sent me messages for this great moment. I knew that entire India would see me holding the (national) flag during the opening ceremony (on February 4) and they must be proud of me."
Just before leaving for Beijing, Khan had said that he would be happy if he can make it to the top-30 in his events.
“It’s a difficult and complicated event, you never know what will happen on a day. You have to be conscious about your movement, balance of your body, of your skiis, the speed till the last gate."
(With inputs from agencies)
Comments
0 comment