Fouaad caught in different hurdle

CHENNAI: Fouaad Mirza had circled December 11 on his calendar for a long time. “My grand mother’s birthday,” he says. “I had thought about coming to India then, just meeting her and the family on her birthday, having a good time.” That plan, though, was shelved the moment Omicron, the new coronavirus variant, emerged. “I stayed back in Germany.” 

Apart from taking part in a few events, the equestrian rider has remained in Germany (he was in Italy for an event in the first week of November) since coming back from the Olympics in August. Both his senior horses, Seigneur Medicott and Dajara 4 ‘have just come back into training after a long holiday’. “They went on a long holiday after putting in the hard yards for many months,” he says. In their absence, he took Mokatoo with him for a few of the local shows. “He is only eight so he is young.” Mokatoo, Fouaad hopes, will develop in time for Paris. 

Up next for the 29-year-old is the World Equestrian Games (the World Championships), scheduled to be held in Herning, Denmark, from August 6-14, 2022. He, however, does have a few issues to sort out before he can start planning for the Worlds. The equestrian part of the Asian Games in Hangzhou is from September 13-22 so peaking in two big events within a single month could be a challenge. While he wants to take part in both events — “competing for India is always an honour,” he says — if he wants to keep in mind the big picture of Paris 2024, he can ill afford to spend time on the Asian Games. “The Worlds is a bigger event, the quality of competition is higher and the world’s best will be there,” the multiple Asian Games medallist says. 

One can wonder why it’s an issue considering there is a gap of a month between the two events but it’s not as simple. Transporting horses to multiple timezones, getting them used to different surroundings and training for multiple events compared to training for a single meet... it’s all different. 

The other challenge Fouaad has is in convincing the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) to consider a different qualification criteria for the Asian Games. Right now, the EFI have told Fouaad that they will only accept marks garnered from CCI 2* events. It’s a class of event that the Bergedorf-based rider has outgrown. In elite equestrian, it’s all about competing in CCI 4 and 5* meets. But the federation have remained steadfast in their refusal to accept scores from a higher level of competition. “I don’t know why,” he says. “I have told them I am willing to submit my scores of CCI 3, 4 and 5* meets but they have not said ‘yes’ to it so far.” 

This is a big problem considering that the horses and he will like to train for CCI 4 and 5* events to prepare for the Worlds. If he is to train to meet the qualification criteria — five CCI 2* meets with the federation taking the best three scores with the cut off being May — it could potentially ruin his Worlds preparation. “It will take a good six months out of my preparation for the Worlds,” he rues. If EFI remain adamant, there could potentially be a scenario where they may force Fouaad’s hands (EFI didn’t respond). But he doesn’t want to take that decision.

Full story: newindianexpress.com