India in Asian games: Fouaad Mirza gets 2 Equestrian Silver

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Fouaad Mirza

Harpal Singh Bedi in Jakarta

Fouaad Mirza rode to glory and silver as he became the first Indian horseman to claim an individual medal in the Eventing event of the equestrian competition in the Asian Games after 36 years, here on Sunday.

Fouaad along with Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Malik Jitender Singh also fetched India a second silver in the team event with a combined score of with a combined score of 121.30. Japan took the gold with 82.40 while Thailand bagged the bronze with 126.70

The Gold in the individual event was won by Japan’s Oiwa Yoshiakil who e completed his routine without any penalty points, ending with a score of 22.70.

Fouaad who, topped the dressage and cross-country qualifiers with a score of 22.40, went into the jumping finals as a favourite. He was in line to win the gold till his very last run.

 

The Indian needed to clear all the hurdles without any knock-downs.However luck deserted him as his horse knocked down the bars on one occasion, and that cost him four penalty points – but he did get the silver

“I am extremely thrilled, to be the first Indian to Individual medal in this competition at this level is great” 26 year old Fouaad said who interestingly achieved this landmark on the 26th day of the month.

“I was confident of Gold but knockdowns at the last stages cost me the yellow medal” he said adding “still it feels wonderful to win two silvers for the country.The medals will be big boost for the sport in India”

Fouaad who has been training under German Olympian Bettina Hoy has the distinction of being the. The first Indian rider to post a victory in Europe,

India had previously won 10 medals in the sport, including three golds. The last individual medal in Eventing, however, came in 1982 when Raghubir Singh topped the table in New Delhi. That year, all three of the podium positions were awarded to Indians – Ghulam Mohammed Khan won silver while Prahlad Singh won bronze – in the event.

The Indian horsemen’s performance is creditable given the fact that they had to go a period of uncertainty about their participation.

It was nothing short of a tragicomedy . The Equestrian Federation of India first selected the team and then declared the selection as invalid.

. In June, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) dropped the entire team from the contingent before a seven-member team was finally cleared by the Ministry.

As if that was not enough accreditations were cleared just on the eve of their departure. Horses were brought in from Chennai and Belgium to the Games venue but with no grooms to attend to them for hours together.

FOLLOW THE INDIAN AWAAZ

In the Eventing event Ihe horses (along with the riders) are timed from a start and a finish line, and a final score is obtained by combining the number of jumping faults (4 points for every jump knocked down), number of refusals (a refusal is when the horse refuses to jump), and time faults (if the rider takes more time than the stipulated limit).

Two refusals in the event automatically lead to elimination!