CHENNAI: It seems there is no dearth of controversy in the Equestrian Federation of India. The federation that has only three members left in the executive committee (according to its website) out of a possible 12 has once again got itself into a mess over the late omission of names from the 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, which is scheduled to begin from September 23.
Days before the horses were to be quarantined, the show jumping team was uncertain about its travel to Hangzhou. A letter from a rider claimed that the federation informed them they were dropped from the team. According to EFI, seven horses — four in dressage and three in eventing — are in quarantine before travelling to China in a week's time. Interestingly, the team was cleared by the sports ministry in August itself.
In show jumping, things got complicated when one of the rider's cases, Kirat Singh Nagra, was highlighted for apparently not meeting the requisite Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) as per EFI's selection criteria version 5. Other members of the team are Tejas Dhingra and Yash Nensee. According to the EFI, the riders had to re-qualify on new horses (because Indian horses were not allowed in China) in a two-round event. The event Kirat entered in the Netherlands in June was not a Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) event but conducted by jury and judges of the FEI.
The letter apparently was written to all stakeholders – EFI, sports ministry, Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) — that they have been informed about being dropped from the team by the EFI for not meeting eligibility criteria. It even claimed that the result of the June event, where the riders including Kirat participated, was accepted by the sports ministry in July. The EFI did not want to say anything on the show-jumping team.
It is understood that SAI recommended that Kirat’s case be considered since he is the "undisputed No. 3" player in the team. According to an SAI recommendation to the ministry, the team has to comprise a of minimum three riders and with Kirat as its part. It felt that the team could be among the medals at the Games.
The recommendation stated that Kirat achieved this MER in an event held in Koningsbosch, Netherlands. SAI explained that although this was an approved event by the EFI and conducted by a jury and judges of FEI, later this event was declared as not the one approved by FEI. "It is not the fault of the athlete that after the tournament is over, the same is declared as one not recognized by EFI. Also, the team is otherwise doing well and has good chances of winning a medal." What next? It needs to be seen if the team would be given an opportunity to get further MER.
Curious case of Raju
What seems baffling is the omission of Raju Singh, a farmer's son, from the eventing team. According to an EFI letter dated September 5, Raju has been dropped because he did not have the requisite MER. According to a letter to the rider, the Committee of Experts of the EFI "regret to inform you (Raju Singh) that since you could not achieve an EFI MER at Sailieu wef 23-27 Aug 2023, your status as an eventing probable has been revoked…" The young rider from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has been stationed at Nannes in France for training and competition. Interstingly, Raju and the show jumping team were cleared by the sports ministry last month.
The rider and his team claimed that they were asked to go to Lisbon, Portugal on short notice to compete at an event. They had been crisscrossing the continent to get the requisite MER but to no avail. Raju and his coach, Bhagirath Singh, are sponsored by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Interestingly, a multiple eventing Asian Games medallist said that it was unfortunate to have dropped Raju because eventing, which comprises a minimum of three riders in a team, is injury-prone and felt that it is always advantageous to have one extra rider in case horse or a rider gets injured.
The EFI secretary, Jaiveer Singh, however, said that since Raju did not meet MER, he could not be fitted into the team. “As of now we have seven horses in quarantine in Germany and seven riders in dressage (4) and eventing (3),” he said, without touching on the topic of show jumping.
Modern pentathlon
Despite the recommendation of five names, only one player has been considered for the Asian Games. According to SAI, "Mayank Vaibhav Chapheker's performance was evaluated as per position and points secured in the selection trial and in UPIM Pentathlon World Cup, Egypt, March 2023. It is important to note that in the final rankings, only two Asian countries were there out of 18 finalists and Mayank did not feature in the final rankings. However, considering his deduced ranking (eighth among Asian Participants) and high probability of qualifying for the Olympics — 2024, he is being recommended to participate in the Asian Games 2022 to be held at Hangzhou under clause (iv) of MYAS circular dated 10.07.23."