Abhishek Bachchan is known to be a sports fan and the actor is on a special mission now.

He has taken a keen interest in the life of Shiva Keshavan, an Olympic luge athlete.

Luge is the fastest sliding sport of the Winter Olympics in which the luger steers the sled down slopes at speeds in excess of 140 kmph. And Shiva is the only Indian athlete to participate in the Winter Olympics.

He has represented India at four Olympics so far, having the distinction of being the youngest Olympian in luge. He has participated in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, aged just 16. Luge is an expensive sport. The sled itself can cost anywhere between Rs 3-5 lakh excluding additional costs of customisation.

Shiva being the fastest luger in Asia and winner of consecutive Gold medals at the 2011 and 2012 Asian Championships and has a chance of creating history by bringing India glory at the forthcoming Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

The sport is still in its infancy in India. Shiva is attempting to win a medal and Abhishek is said to be doing all that he can to help him achieve this. Junior Bachchan has apparently been calling and making inquiries and even encouraging his industry mates to spread the word and help in this uniquely inspirational cause and send Shiva to the Winter Olympics 2014.

Says a source, `Though Abhishek loves football and basketball, he also takes keen interest in other sports and when he heard about Shiva's plight, he immediately made inquiries about him and is now going all out to encourage everyone right from his friends to opinion makers to voice their support so that people sit up and take notice and back the sport which has been long ignored in the country.`

Confirming the news Abhishek says, `I am willing to do whatever I can to help Shiva. Every sportsperson of our country must be supported and encouraged. They hope to represent us, India, on a world stage. We must support them!`