Shiva Keshavan forced to pull out of World Championships: Report

New Delhi: India's five-time winter Olympic player Shiva Keshavan has pulled out of the Luge World Championships in Germany and also the remaining part of the World Cup circuit due to lack of funding.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Keshavan had also lost the services of his coach Duncan Kennedy.

Kennedy who was a former technical director of the US luge team, had decided to coach Keshavan believing that the latter has the potential to perform on the big stage.

Interestingly, Keshavan had won a silver at the Asian Championship in Nagano, Japan, last month.

Towards the end of 2015, the ministry had agreed to pay the Kennedy's salary, but later decided to cap it at one-third the amount. That forced Shiva to pay Kennedy from his pocket.

Reports claim that Keshavan had submitted applications a few times in the past two years under the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF). The 34-year-old has done so again in January 2016, and requested the minister to look into his case favourably.

The ministry has earlier helped Keshavan in the past under the NSDF, releasing ` 10 lakh as part reimbursement for his coach’s salary. The support has not been continuous and steady and therefore no expenses have been paid for training, equipment and travel, etc.

Currently the Olympian is also without a sponsor.