TOI EXCLUSIVE: Indian equestrian team may miss out on Asiad | More sports News – Times of India
International body refuses to approve this month’s qualifier in Bengaluru
NEW DELHI: Indian equestrian team’s selection for the Hangzhou Asian Games slated for September this year has been put in jeopardy following the national body’s inability to upgrade its riders.
In an embarrassment for the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), the sport’s global governing body – Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) – has refused to approve the country’s bid to host a selection trial for the Hangzhou Asiad in Bengaluru this month after receiving “very alarming” reports concerning one such previous qualifier held in Delhi from December 1 to 5, 2021.
FEI, after raising concerns over “insufficient level of preparation of the Indian athletes” as displayed during the New Delhi event and “lack of cross-country awareness of the riders”, has refused to grant the Bengaluru meet status of ‘CCI2-star’ level Asiad qualifier, thus affecting the chances of Indian riders to qualify for Hangzhou Games. The event is scheduled from January 15 to 19, considered as the third selection trial for the Asiad.
FEI’s director for Eventing and Olympic, Catrin Norinder -in one of her several strongly worded mails to EFI’s secretary general Col Jaiveer Singh – informed the federation about “receiving a number of videos showing extremely bad pictures for the sport of eventing (during the New Delhi meet) which needs to be addressed”, while turning down EFI’s repeated requests to approve the Bengaluru qualifier. TOI is in possession of mail exchanges between Norinder and Col Singh.
In one of the mails, Lausanne-based Norinder wrote: “Further to the CCI2*-L having taken place in New Delhi from 1-5 December 2021, we refer to the very alarming reports and results received following this event. 12 combinations completed the competition out of 41 starting the Dressage test, and 21 didn’t finish the cross-country, these statistics are not acceptable.”
In another mail, she informed: “The reports received from the foreign officials involved clearly raised their concern of the insufficient level of preparation of the athletes. Risk management concerns of International Eventing have repercussions on the sport worldwide and cannot be considered as a national situation.”
FEI also criticised the Indian federation for not having the Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) standards as established by the international body for athletes in ‘Eventing’ to enter a CCI2star competition. Norinder proposed downgrading the status of Bengaluru meet to a CCI1-star, which is a standard lower than the Asian Games level and is for the beginners. It’s been learnt that the EFI’s selection committee, which met on December 26 here, has decided to host a CCI1-star event as recommended by the FEI between January 15 and 20 in Bengaluru in order to become eligible for hosting a CC12-star qualifier if the same is allotted by the world body in the near future.
NEW DELHI: Indian equestrian team’s selection for the Hangzhou Asian Games slated for September this year has been put in jeopardy following the national body’s inability to upgrade its riders.
In an embarrassment for the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), the sport’s global governing body – Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) – has refused to approve the country’s bid to host a selection trial for the Hangzhou Asiad in Bengaluru this month after receiving “very alarming” reports concerning one such previous qualifier held in Delhi from December 1 to 5, 2021.
FEI, after raising concerns over “insufficient level of preparation of the Indian athletes” as displayed during the New Delhi event and “lack of cross-country awareness of the riders”, has refused to grant the Bengaluru meet status of ‘CCI2-star’ level Asiad qualifier, thus affecting the chances of Indian riders to qualify for Hangzhou Games. The event is scheduled from January 15 to 19, considered as the third selection trial for the Asiad.
FEI’s director for Eventing and Olympic, Catrin Norinder -in one of her several strongly worded mails to EFI’s secretary general Col Jaiveer Singh – informed the federation about “receiving a number of videos showing extremely bad pictures for the sport of eventing (during the New Delhi meet) which needs to be addressed”, while turning down EFI’s repeated requests to approve the Bengaluru qualifier. TOI is in possession of mail exchanges between Norinder and Col Singh.
In one of the mails, Lausanne-based Norinder wrote: “Further to the CCI2*-L having taken place in New Delhi from 1-5 December 2021, we refer to the very alarming reports and results received following this event. 12 combinations completed the competition out of 41 starting the Dressage test, and 21 didn’t finish the cross-country, these statistics are not acceptable.”
In another mail, she informed: “The reports received from the foreign officials involved clearly raised their concern of the insufficient level of preparation of the athletes. Risk management concerns of International Eventing have repercussions on the sport worldwide and cannot be considered as a national situation.”
FEI also criticised the Indian federation for not having the Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) standards as established by the international body for athletes in ‘Eventing’ to enter a CCI2star competition. Norinder proposed downgrading the status of Bengaluru meet to a CCI1-star, which is a standard lower than the Asian Games level and is for the beginners. It’s been learnt that the EFI’s selection committee, which met on December 26 here, has decided to host a CCI1-star event as recommended by the FEI between January 15 and 20 in Bengaluru in order to become eligible for hosting a CC12-star qualifier if the same is allotted by the world body in the near future.
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