Violinist qualifies for ski team at Sochi Olympics

LONDON -- The manager of Vanessa-Mae says the musician will be swapping her violin for skis to compete at the Winter Olympics.

Giles Howard says the classical-pop violinist has qualified for the Thai team at the Sochi games.

The International Ski Federation published rankings on Monday confirming Vanessa-Mae has met the qualifying criteria to compete at Sochi.

The federation's alpine media coordinator, Ana Jelusic, told Britain's Press Association news agency that the 35-year-old musician "ticks all the boxes," having gained the required level of points in at least five slalom or giant slalom races.

Singapore-born, London-raised Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson competes as Vanessa Vanakorn, using the surname of her Thai father.

A child prodigy who played violin from age 5, she shot to fame in 1995 with her debut album "Violin Player."

In 2006, the Sunday Times ranked her as the wealthiest entertainer under the age of 30 in the U.K. with an estimated fortune of 32 million pounds.