Alpine skier Arif Mohammed Khan has become India’s first athlete to qualify for two different events of the Beijing Winter Olympics, set to be held in China from February 4-20, next year.
On Wednesday, Khan secured a 2022 Winter Olympics quota spot in men’s giant slalom event. He has also earned a quota in the slalom event at a meet in Dubai, last month.
Hailing from Jammu and Kashmir 31-year-old Khan secured his giant slalom cut during the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) meet held at Kolasin in Montenegro.
According to olympics.com report, while Arif Khan remains the only Indian to have made the cut for the 2022 Beijing Olympics so far, his associate Aanchal Thakur, who recently won a bronze in the women’s giant slalom, remains in the hunt for qualification.
The average of five best results in the event from July 1, 2019 to January 16, 2022 is considered in order to compete in giant slalom or slalom events at the 2022 Winter Games. Alpine skiers who have competed in less than five events in this period of time, an extra 20 percent of the average points is added to the International Ski Federation (FIS) points list.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea’s Pyeongchang, India had two representatives as Jagdish Singh competed in the 15km freestyle event of cross-country skiing while Shiva Keshavan participated in the luge.
While the men’s giant slalom event will be held on February 13, next year, slalom will be held on February 16.
Slalom is an event held in Winter Olympics that involves skiing between sets of poles divided at a distance from each other. The distance is greater in giant slalom than in slalom.
