Mohammad Arif Khan qualifies for two Winter Olympics events, becomes first in India to do so

01/01/2022

Skier Mohammad Arif Khan has done the country proud once again as he managed to secure a Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics quota in the men's giant slalom event, on Wednesday. This is his second quota for Being 2022, which is scheduled to be held from February 4 to 20 in the Chinese capital.

Prior to this, Arif, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, had also earned a quota in the slalom event. This makes him the first Indian to qualify for two different events in the Winter Olympics directly.

He went on to make the cut for giant slalom, during the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) meet held at Kolasin, Montenegro.

In the slalom event, a skier has to ski between a set of poles, while in giant slalom, the distance is greater. Meanwhile, Arif is the only athlete to have qualified for the Olympics, while Aanchal Thakur is also in contention to make the cut.

Back in 2018, India had two athletes who participated in the Pyeongchang Olympics. Jagdish Singh participated in the 15km freestyle event of cross-country skiing and Shiva Keshavan took part in luge.

The men's giant slalom event is scheduled to take place on February 13, while the slalom event will be held on February 16.