Innsbruck-Igls, Austria: The luge World Cup series is heading into its 45th season. The traditional season opener of the Viessmann Luge World Cup will be staged on the Olympic track in Innsbruck-Igls (Austria). Innsbruck hosted 2 Olympic Games, in 1964 and in 1976.
A total of 31 nations and 160 sleds have entered the first event of the season to be held on November 24th-25th, 2012.
The World Cup Finals’ qualifiers will be held on Friday the 23rd where all the participants will compete to grab a spot in the Top 30, who will further compete in the final race on Sunday.
Among the athletes present are current Olympic medalists, Felix Loch (Gold, Men’s Singles) and David Moeller (Silver, Men’s Singles) of Germany, Armin Zoeggeler of Italy (Bronze, Men’s singles), Tatjana Huefner of Germany (Gold, Women’s singles) and Andreas & Wolfgang Linger of Austria (Gold, Men’s Doubles).
Asian Champion Shiva Keshavan has been training on the track this week and will be representing India in this pre-Olympic year, made possible by sponsorships from MTS, Coca Cola India and Olympic Gold Quest.
“I am aiming to be in the Top 30 and compete in the World Cup Finals on Sunday. We are experimenting with some equipment and it will be interesting how it works on race ice. I will have to make up for my tail ending start number as I did not take part in the last seasons’ World Cups due to lack of Government support, I am still hoping for this to change in the near future”, says Shiva from Innsbruck.
The Schedule, as per local time is given below:
Saturday, November 24
10:00 hrs Viessmann Luge World Cup Finals – women’s singles
12:30 hrs Viessmann Luge World Cup Finals – doubles’
Sunday, November 25
10:00 hrs Viessmann Luge World Cup Finals – men’s singles
13:30 hrs Viessmann Luge World Cup Team Relay
By Indian Sports News Network
