Winter Olympics: Meet Jagdish Singh, a first-time Winter Olympian from India

Bengaluru, February 10: Shiva Keshavan has been India's lone face in the Winter Olympics for a long time. But this time he will have a company in the form of Jagdish Singh, who will be competing in the 15 km Nordic freestyle skiing on February 16 at Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Who is Jagdish Singh? Here's are some facts about him.

Basic profile

Jagdish Singh was born on July 1, 1991, in Chamoli, Uttarakhand. The 26-year-old joined the Indian Army in 2011 and is a cross country skiing specialist. Army has been bearing the cost of his training. Jagdish learned skiing as part of his mandatory training programme.

How does he train?

Jagdish Singh is based on Army's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) in Gulmarg and he trains everyday from 7 am till around noon. After that he engages in gym and other core strengthening exercises.

How did he qualify for Winter Olympics?

Jagdish Singh achieved the qualification for the Winter Olympics during an event in Finland last year - virtually a last-minute dash. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) does not recognise the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) and that has created multi-headed issues for athletes - from funding to absence of better training facilities.

Coach fiasco

Whether it is the eagerly awaited Summer Olympics or its lesser known Winter version, Indian athletes will not be too far away from controversy and last-minute scramble. Jagdish Singh too had to go through it.

The IOA turned down two names - President Col (Rtd) Jodh Singh Dhillon and secretary general Roshan Lal Thakur - recommended by WGFI as Jagdish's coaches on the grounds that the Federation does not come under its umbrella.

At the same time, the Army had also put forward the name of Major General Atul Kaushil as Jagdish's coach but the IOA was not satisfied by his record as a coach.

Eventually, HAWS nominated former Winter Olympian and cross country skier Nadeem Iqbal as Jagdish's coach and got the IOA clearance.