Eye on Tokyo, Mirza to head to Europe
BENGALURU: Having soaked in praise for winning silver at the Jakarta Asian Games in the three-day eventing — India’s first individual medal in the Games since Raghubir Singh’s gold in eventing at the 1982 New Delhi Games — Bangalore rider Fouaad Mirza is heading back to Germany for training in a bid to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Mirza, 28, ended India’s 36-year wait for an individual Asian Games medal, which also helped claim the team silver, finishing behind Japan.
Mirza, a product of Bangalore’s Embassy International Riding School where he started riding as a five-year old when the facility was set up in 1997, will return to train under Bettina Hoy, a former world champion and Olympic medallist, who prepared him for Indonesia.
“I gained a lot in Jakarta due to the experience gained in Incheon (2014 Asian Games – 10th). Wearing India colours, there is a lot of pressure,” Mirza said on the sidelines of the Equestrian Premier League final held at the Embassy riding school on Sunday.
Asian Games medallists Mirza as well as Army riders Kiran Kumar, Ashish Malik and Jitender Singh — who helped win the team silver — were felicitated during the EPL jumping competition for young riders who train at the sprawling 240-acre complex. “I’m very much a product of this riding school,” said Mirza, who is under long-term sponsorship by Bengaluru’s real estate-focused Embassy Group.
Mirza said the Asian Games medal underlined potential for India to do better, but sees Europe as his only route to raise his level and come into reckoning for the Tokyo Games. “Our level has improved. Shows like this are hugely beneficial,” he said. “We need good tools to make good work. But we need continuity in training; now there is more awareness.”
“To go to the Olympics, I need to be in Europe — you need to be among the finest to raise your standard.” In Germany, Mirza will have the benefit of training on the horses he and teammates rode at the Jakarta Games.
Mirza, who dropped out of university in England to pursue his passion, though faces a huge task to make it to Tokyo. His father Hasneyan Mirza, a veterinarian doctor and consultant at the riding school, explained that only 15 teams of three riders each will make it, with one of them the host nation. Only two riders each from the seven zones will qualify.
Asian Games was one-star (in terms of difficulty, especially height of jumps), but Olympics will be four-star event (3-star difficulty), which means Mirza and other Indian riders will have to significantly raise their level to qualify. “Fouaad has competed in two-star, three-star events. You need the horses, and three-four months to get four-star qualified,” Hasneyan said.
Mirza aims to compete in Europe. Points from four best events will be taken for qualification. India’s French coach, Rudolphe Scherer, though is unhappy the Equestrian Federation of India is not quickly building on the gains from Jakarta. “I’m pushing for a plan. South Africa have started to call me. If they have a nice project and if there is no plan (by EFI), then there is no future,” he said.