India's promising equestrian rider Fouaad Mirza has taken firm steps towards qualifying for the Asian Games to be held in Jakarta next year. The 25-year-old, competing in eventing -a combination of dressage, cross-country and show jumping -finished first and second at the Asian Games CCI 1* equestrian event, held at Montelibretti, Italy.
Astride Seigneur Medicott, the Bengaluru rider gave a winning performance and returned to claim the second place with his other horse, Cocky Locky . Fouaad, who repre sents Equs India team, will next compete at the trials to be held at Le Pouget, France, from Nov 11-16. A product of Embassy International Riding School (EIRS), he is training under German Olympian Bettina Hoy at Warendorf, Germany .

While Fouaad and Rajesh Pattu, 45, an ex-armyman and two-time Asiad participant, continue to train and compete abroad, other riders will go through five trials in India until May to pick the four best riders who will make the Indian team in the eventing category. “The idea is to bring up the sport in the country and for that to happen it is important for talented riders like Fouaad to win a medal at the Asian Games. He is way ahead of his competitors. He is riding with Seigneur Medicott, which is a new horse, ex plained Jitu Virwani, chairman and managing director of Embassy Group. Silva Storai, director, EIRS, talking about Fouaad's progress, said: “We have seen Fouaad grow up in the saddle and he is a hardworking and dedicated rider, which is paramount to success coupled with an inherent talent and horsemanship.“

COE IN THE PIPELINE

Virwani revealed that the Union government was planning to start a Centre of Excellence to identify talent for the 2022 Asian Games. The Equestrian Federation of India has approached EIRS to set up and use the academy as a training facility.EIRS is currently in the process of putting up a Rs 1.25crore equestrian arena in the premises.

“The idea of a training centre will be to train children from the grassroots level to identify talent for the next Asian Games,“ Virwani explained.

Courtesy Times of India