Twenty-year-old Chirag Khandal may have won a battle in Supreme Court but there is no end in sight for his bitter tussle with the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).
Admitting a Special Leave Appeal by Chirag Khandal against EFI, a Supreme Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh passed an interim order directing EFI to include 20-year-old in the long list of athletes for the Eventing competition in the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China, later this year.
Instead of making things any easier for the young man and letting him get back on a saddle, the Federation has laid some more hurdles in his way than he would find on a cross country course.
An unrelenting EFI Secretary-General has asked Chirag Khandal to share a No Objection Certificate from the owner/lessor of his horse by noon on Saturday. What’s more, the EFI boss has asked the rider to not only complete his Asian Games Accreditation form but also that of the horse’s Groom by 9-00 a.m.
Frenchman to lease horses to riders and be National coach?
Informatively, EFI has already sent a bunch of six riders to France for a National Camp. It may have, in the belief that it had successfully kept Chirag Khandal out of the mix, promised the owner of Veni Vidi Vici, the horse on which he got his MERs in 2022, that it would lease that horse and another from him – and make the horse owner the National Eventing Coach.
It is also significant that of the six riders in France now, only one of them – the Germany-based Ashish Limaye – is assured of a horse. The other five have travelled from India and are awaiting word from India that EFI, with the help of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports through the Sports Authority of India (SAI), would be able to lease some horses till the Asian Games.
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Riders left disappointed after virtual meeting with SAI DDG
Meanwhile, with just over 24 hours left for the EFI and IOA to send the long list of athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee, Sports Authority of India Deputy Director General Shiv Sharma held a video meeting with 2018 Asian Games silver medallist Fouaad Mirza, teenager Shashant Singh Kataria and Chirag Khandal to hear their grievances.
A SAI Media Release said SAI had taken cognisance of their suggestions to have a fair and transparent selection and informed EFI to make a suitable decision, someone who was present in the meeting said from the way Olympian Fouad Mirza was asked why he had not taken part in any trials, it was apparent the SAI official’s mind had been made up.
Fouaad Mirza’s contention that he withdrew from the selection process in 2022-23 only because the window for selection was shortened by the powers-that-be and that if the criteria is being chance for a rider or two, he deserves to be considered. India is not yet an Equestrian-rich nation that it can afford to not find ways to include its best rider in the scheme of things.
The longer the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Indian Olympic Association defer a decision on an ad hoc committee to at least oversee the selection process for the Asian Games the messier it promises to get. It is a pity that despite knowing that the EFI does not have a Selection Committee, let alone an Executive Committee, neither body has stepped in so far.
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IOA Athletes Commission members act with alacrity and understanding
Only the members of the IOA Athletes Commission, notably Vice Chairman A Sharath Kamal, Shiva Keshavan and Om Prakash Singh Karanha, have shown great alacrity in understanding the unseemly situation. Their reported decision to recommend the formation of a selection committee to ensure fair selection is worthy of being acted upon at the earliest.
Since only the Ashish Limaye-Willy Be Dun combination has secured three MERs and everyone else in the camp — Vikas Kumar, Raju Singh, Rakesh Kumar and Ashish Malik – is awaiting EFI to organise mounts for them to try and get into the Asian Games squad, it may only benefit India if it adds Fouaad Mirza (on Seignor Medicott) and Shashank Kataria (on Icaro Lb) to the list.
But that may be wishful thinking, just as Chirag Khandal’s dream of making it to the Asian Games gathers the shape of a mirage. And, by all accounts, SAI’s decision to inform (rather than direct) EFI to make a suitable decision as soon as possible, may only be by way of closing the stable door after the horses have bolted.