India`s luger Shiva Keshavan clocks 53.905 in heat 1 at Sochi Winter Olympics

Sochi (Russia): India`s luger Shiva Keshavan clocked 53.905 in the first heat of the men`s singles luge event at the Sochi Winter Olympics here on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Indian, who represented India in four Olympic Games, had a maximum speed of 130.1 km/hr during the first heat and ranked 35th after starting at 38th place. Keshavan was 1.735 behind Russia`s Albert Demchenko, who clocked 52.17 to top the the first heat at the Sanki Sliding Center here. The second heat will start later in the day while the third and fourth heat is schuedled to be held tomorrow. The four times in the heats will be added together, and the luger who clocks the fastest total time will be crowned the winner. Yesterday, Keshavan had pulled off an incredible recovery during training when he slipped off his sled, fell onto his stomach and glided down the track before managing to get a hold of his sled, flipping himself onto it, and continuing with the run. Keshavan had won gold in Asia Cup 2011 at Nagano in Japan. In 2012, he retained the Asian title by winning the Gold Medal at the Asia Cup in Nagano and setting a new Asian track record at 49.590 seconds.