Corruption keeps India from Games Tainted politics overshadow Olympic spirit. By Shashank Bengali Tribune Newspapers MUMBAI, India — As a boy, Shiva Keshavan raced a crude wooden sled down the snowy mountain roads ringing the Himalayas in his native northern India. Keshavan, 32, is now one of Asia’s top luge competitors, even though India doesn’t have an ice track, and he has represented his country at the last four Winter Olympics. But not this year. In a dispute over corruption-tainted Indian athletic officials, the International Olympic Committee suspended India’s membership, which means it cannot participate in the Games in Sochi, Russia, which begin Friday. Keshavan and two Indian skiers who have qualified for the Games will compete as “independent athletes” — not under their own flag but under the generic Olympic banner — an arrangement the IOC has made for athletes from newly formed or war-torn lands, such as East Timor and South Sudan.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 01:15:12 +0000
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