Indian flag raised at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Village

Pyeongchang: A day before the beginning of the Winter Olympics, the Indian flag was raised at the Games Village at a formal team welcome ceremony. Luger Shiva Keshavan, Indian contingent's chef-de-mission Harjinder Singh and the mayor of the Games Village were present during the brief ceremony.

"The Indian contingent was formally welcomed at the Games Village today by the mayor of the Games Village. The tri-colour was raised during the welcome ceremony. We are proud to represent the country," Harjinder said.

"We have been looked after well by the organisers and we have no problems as such here except that it is very cold, below minus 20 degrees celsius," he added.

Cross-country skier Jagdish Singh is, however, yet to arrive at this resort town of South Korea and is expected to join the team on Friday.

Jagdish was to arrive here on February 4 along with Krshavan but his departure from India was delayed due to confusion over who will accompany him as coach.

Harjinder said that Keshavan, who is taking part in his sixth Winter Olympics, has started training for his event.

"Jagdish was not there during the team welcome ceremony. He is arriving tomorrow. But Shiva has started his training drills," Harjinder, also the General Secretary of Ice Hockey Association of India, said.

The four heats of luge men's singles events in which Keshavan will participate will take place on February 10 and 11.

The final result will come out with the total time earned from the four runs.

Jagdish will compete in the 15-km Nordic skiing freestyle event on February 16.

The Winter Olympic Games kick off on Friday with the Opening Ceremony.