Five medals on offer as Keshavan leads Indian charge

Pyeonchang, February 10: Five gold medals are up for grabs on the opening day of Winter Olympics as star luger Shiva Keshavan once again did the honours of holding the national flag of the Indian contingent in the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games.

The 36-year-old has held the Indian flag in all his earlier five Winter Olympics appearances either in the opening or closing ceremony.

The 2014 edition was an exception as the Indian Olympic Association was under suspension.

Keshavan, cross country skier Jagdish Singh and chef-de-mission Harjinder Singh were among the six Indians who took part in the march past under sub-zero conditions in the South Korean resort town.

All the members of the Indian contingent wore red track shirt and black trousers with grey hand gloves and an Himachali cap.

"What a moment! What a special feeling it is, being the flag bearer at the @Olympics #pyeongchang2018," Keshavan tweeted after waving the tri-colour flag.

Jagdish arrived on time to take part in the ceremony. He was due to arrive on February 4 along with Keshavan but his departure from India was delayed due to confusion over who will accompany him as coach.

The four heats of luge men's singles events in which Keshavan will participate will take place on and February 10 and 11. The final result will come out with the total time earned from the four runs.

Jagdish will compete in the 15-km Nordic skiing freestyle event on February 16.

On the first day of the competition, gold medals are on offer in cross country skiing, biathlon, speed skating, short track speed skating and ski-jumping.

The opening day will also see the much-awaited debut of a unified ice hockey team from Korea.

The unified ice hockey team for the Pyeongchang Olympics is a product of a landmark thaw between the rival Koreas following a year of high tensions over the nuclear-armed North's weapons ambitions.

The diplomatic breakthrough was highlighted at the opening ceremony attended by North Korea's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam and the powerful sister of the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

(With PTI inputs)