Indian equestrian Fouaad Mirza was decided till the last moment which one of his two horses will accompany him to the Tokyo Games and he went the horse in the best current form in the month of June. Mirza went with experienced gelding Seigneur Medicott over the spirited young mare Dajara 4 with whom he had finished second and third respectively to meet his Minimum Eligibility Requirement in the CCI 4* -- Long Eventing competition in Poland.
Mirza trainied in Bergedorf, a village in north-west Germany, and is only the third Indian equestrian after Indrajit Lamba and Imtiaz Anees to secure an individual spot in Eventing at the Olympic Games. Anees was the last to make the cut for the 2000 Sydney Olympics as a wildcard.
Early start to equestrian for Fouaad Mirza
Son of an equestrian veterinarian Dr Hasneyn Mirza, the sport came naturally to him and his Olympic dream was fuelled by watching old tapes of Mark Todd’s Olympic glories of 1984 and 1988. “I got a lot of excitement watching the tapes from a very young age,” Mirza was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Mirza, who has been in Germany for more than two years training with his horses, said he has expenses running up to Rs 2 crore a year.
“It’s a very expensive sport and I’m very lucky to have a sponsor,” Mirza, who is backed by Embassy International Riding School Bangalore, said.
“We’ve some good infrastructure but the government needs to be involved to run some programmes to nurture young talents,” he said.
Mirza in 22nd spot after cross-country round
Mirza picked up 11.20 penalty points and was placed 22nd after the cross-country round at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. A good round in the individual show jumping qualifier on Monday will ensure that Mirza, India's only equestrian at the Olympics in over two decades, and his horse Seigneur Medicott remain in the top 25 and make the eventing individual jumping final in the evening.
Mirza picked up 11.20 time penalties after a clear cross country round in the challenging Sea Forest Cross Country Course in the eventing competition, which took his total to 39.20. He finished the country run in just over 8 minutes.
In the equestrian eventing cross country individual, a participant has to complete the course within 7 minutes 45 seconds to avoid incurring time penalties. The lower the penalty points count, the higher the rider ends up on the table.
Mirza and Seigneur started a bit late owing to a technical issue. The delay in completing the course saw Mirza incur a time penalty of 11.20 for cross country stage based on going over the allotted time for the course.
After a spectacular dressage round, he was placed 9th on Saturday. Mirza and his horse amassed 28.00 penalty points in dressage on Friday, breaking into the top 10 at sixth position.
The pair eventually ended the day tied seventh with Sweden's Louise Romeike and her horse Cato 60 on points (28.00).
Mirza has one more event to go – show jumping – and he has to finish in the top 25 to qualify for the eventing individual jumping final. Great Britain’s Oliver Townend is placed at the top of the standings, having incurred no time penalties on the course on Sunday, with 23.60 points on Ballaghmore Class.
(with PTI inputs)
