As India's sole competitor at Beijing, I'll try to make us proud

Arif Khan

I’ll be India’s sole competitor at next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics. Competing at the Olympics has been a childhood dream, and I’m going to give my best and make my country proud

I still remember how it all started. I was probably three or four when my father, Yaseen Khan, took me to the slopes in Gulmarg in January 1994. I was given a pair of skis and the next day I was trying to navigate the slopes. In a couple of days, I got the hang of it and within a week, I was able to ski down the slopes and control my speed.

It was all basic stuff with the instructors, but it made me fall in love with the sport. The reason I’m in this sport is because of my father as he ran a skiing business as an instructor in Gulmarg — we had the equipment needed for the sport.

He remains my biggest backer — this is an expensive sport and you need funds for travel, training and equipment upgrades. Whatever I have accomplished so far is down to his confidence in me. I had the talent — as a junior, I used to beat senior pros in races — but the opportunity to train or compete was directly related to our tourism business in Gulmarg. If the season went well, I would have enough savings to train and travel abroad; and if the tourists stayed away — it’s Kashmir, after all — we would struggle.

I never really had a full-time coach as I was mostly training in Gulmarg with instructors only. There was no coaching, to be honest. Then when I travelled to Jilin, China, and to Japan for the Asian Alpine Championships, I picked up tips from international athletes. Things started to look up when the international federation, FIS, sent two coaches to India to promote the sport. It was a good stint, and I and the others in the training camps improved our skills.

However, my first overseas training stint came only in 2008 when I went to Switzerland and spent some time training with a club in Verbier. It was a three-week stint before I headed to New Zealand for private coaching from Austrian coaches. Again, all due to our savings from the tourist season.

Things have improved as 40 per cent of my expenses are now taken care of by JSW Sports, and even the J&K Government gave me some funding. I now hear that the Sports Ministry has approved Rs 17 lakh for me under its TOPS scheme. I’ll be honest: This is not enough, but at least the government is acknowledging that there is talent and trying to support our sport.

I’m happy and proud that I’ll be the sole representative from our 1.4 billion population in Beijing. It’s not a big deal as many athletes have represented our country in the Winter Games, but my feat is historic because I’ll be the first to participate in two events — slalom and giant slalom.

Beijing could have been my second successive Games as I was very close to qualifying for the 2018 event. The cancellation of the last qualification event and the fact that there was no federation to back me then (it was suspended) were issues beyond my control. That episode, though sad, made me the athlete I’m today — more determined, tougher.

I could not train for almost all of 2020 due to Covid-19. I didn’t lose hope as you cannot dwell on things that are not in your control. As soon as it was OK to travel, I was out of the country. I’ve been out throughout 2021, either for training or for competitions. I’ve been in Austria since July, training with my coach, Stefan Zlatarev, who runs the Austria Racing Camps. I’ve been traversing through Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy and even the Balkans, where I won my second qualification in giant slalom. I’m trying to soak in all I can, while I can.

My best result has been a 45th place at the World Ski Championships in Italy last year. While I’m confident about my training and performance, in Beijing it will come down to my second run. In my sport, the first run is where generally the athletes are a little conservative, but they let it all go in the second. If all goes well, then who knows what I can achieve. No one can guarantee a medal, but one thing is certain — I’ll ski aggressively. A top-30 finish will be a great result for me. I know people will think finishing in the top-30 is not really an achievement — but in my sport, it is. There is hardly any difference between those who finish at the top and the rest. If I have a very good day, I may even finish in the top-15.

I’ve trained well and I have the experience to compete on artificial ice, so nothing I face in Beijing will be a surprise. I’m ready to go for it. I really hope that I’ll give a performance that will make our country proud.

— As told to Vinayak Padmadeo

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