BENGALURU : The hooves of majestic horses galloping at the Embassy International Riding School premises in Yalahanka left a trail of triumph and euphoria among the youngsters participating at the junior national equestrian championships here on Tuesday. The sport that brings out the close chemistry between the horse and the man had its share of excitement as young riders cleared hurdle after hurdle with alacrity. In the end, 14-year-old Shashank Kanumuri laid his hand on the trophy, astride Friemuer, after claiming the top spot in the Children Group II show jumping.
He was followed by Samartha Satyajit (Chong) and Ayman Ajaz (Red Dragon). Later, in the team event, Shashank partnered Arjun Kanoi (Transformer), Yuvan Prabhakar (Kafiyaa), and Rutwik Choudhary (Hacko) to finish third.“It’s a big achievement for me. I worked hard going into this event and that is paying off. I think competing in the Equestrian Premier League (REL) really helped me get this far. My coach Ashish (Limaye) and Embassy have been very supportive. Now the aim will be to qualify for the AEF U-21 Dressage Championship finals in Doha,” said Shashank.
In the Children GP II individual dressage event, Arjan Singh astride Fleece Clover from Madhya Pradesh State Equestrian Academy, Bhopal topped the charts. Amairah Chadha, astride Quintino, secured second place while Ananya Settipalli, astride Qurt De Monteplaisir, of EIRS was placed third.
EFI clears confusion
While the show-jumping and dressage events went on smoothly, there was confusion among athletes with the selection of one of the judges and manual time-keeping. The athletes alleged that Col SS Ahlawat was not qualified to judge the event that was being held at the ASC Centre. The other two judges Col HR Sunil and Dr KCS Reddy were from the EFI panel of tent pegging judges. However, one of the technical delegates from the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) clarified that the rule book was followed while taking the decisions.
“Three empanelled judges are preferable in tent pegging but it’s not mandatory and so is the case with time-keeping,” he said. “In case of automatic timing, a decision was made to implement automatic time-keeping very recently and procuring such expensive equipment takes time. It’s still in the process.”
Results: Dressage (Children GP II Team): 1. EGC Stables [Shaurya Jain, Amairah Chadha, M Krishna Karthikeya Reddy, Krishna Joshi]; 2. MCA/MPSEA Bhopal [Udhav Singh Rathore, Bhuminjaye Singh Rathore, Lakshya Raj Shaktawat, Arjan Singh]; 3. CEC/ ARS [Disha Mathur, Akshaan Suhag, Srisanth Venkata, Pradhyutha Prasanna].Dressage Children GP II (Individual): 1. Arjan Singh (Fleece Clover, MPSEA, Bhopal), 2. Amairah Chadha (Quintino, BRF), 3. Ananya Settipalli (Qurt De Monteplaisir, Embassy International Riding School). Show Jumping (Children GP II): 1. Shashank Kanumuri (Friemuer, EIRS), 2. Samartha Satyajit (Chong, Red Earth Riding School), 3. Ayman Ajaz (Red Dragon, United Riders Barn). Show Jumping (Team, Children 1): AGL/RERS/REA/CRPF [Samartha T Satyajit (Chong), Aditya Honavar (Hitler), Harsh Choraria (Twitter), Rahul M Deshpande (Fire of Desire)]; 2. Team CEC/URB/Tollygunge Club [Tanusha Kumar (Erocia), Ayman Ajaz (Red Dragon), Saanvi Fatehpuria (Compton Star), VA Ashwin (Feliziana)]; 3. Team EIRS [Shashank Kanumuri (Qurt De Monteplaisir), Arjun Kanoi (Transformer), Yuvan Prabhakar (Kafiyaa), Rutwik Choudhary (Hacko)]. YR Tent Pegging: Individual Round I (Sword): 1. Akash (Diamond, DAV University, Jalandhar), 2. Mahender Singh (Junglee, ASC Centre, North Bangalore), 3. Dinesh Fagodiya (Ajab, ASC North Bangalore).