Cash stimulus need of the hour: Fouaad
Bengaluru, Sept. 6: Asian Games silver medal winner Fouaad Mirza on Thursday called for financial help in popularising equestrian in the country, saying the government can take a cue from European nations such as the United Kingdom and Germany.
Mirza became the first Indian to win an Asiad individual medal in equestrian since 1982 besides guiding the country to a second- place finish in the team competition.
Mirza bagged silver in individual jumping with a score of 26.40.
“It would be interesting to look into the programmes of countries like the UK, Germany, Japan and Thailand, to see if we ● Fouaad can also come up with a system to support and help equestrian sport grow in India,” Mirza said.
“These governments provide financial aid to the sport and equine athletes. Our government should adopt this system as the sport is expensive. It needs lots of money to maintain a horse and matters concerning logistics,” he added.
Fouaad, who has been training under German Olympian Bettina Hoy, topped the dressage and cross- country qualifiers with a score of 22.40 and went into the jumping finals as a favourite. New Delhi, Sept. 6: India’s Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday defended the selection of N. Sriram Balaji ahead of the higher- ranked Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja for their tie against Serbia.
Balaji was included in the side for the September 14- 16 away tie as a replacement for Divij Sharan, who pulled out due to a tear in his serving shoulder.
Saketh Myneni replaced Yuki Bhambri after Sumit Nagal refused to play the tie citing the Challenger Tour.
Balaji, 28, is now set to play his second tie having made a winning debut against Uzbekistan, last year. The All India Tennis Association usually picks players on rankings but shunned the policy when it was forced to pick a replacement after both Sharan and Yuki Bhambri pulled out due to injuries.
“I wanted a balanced team. We have a lefty in Prajnesh already and I wanted someone who can serve big as well,” Bhupathi said when asked about the logic behind the selection. Balaji is ranked 110th, while the left- handed Nedunchezhiyan and Raja are inside top- 100, at 88 and 89 respectively.
Mirza said quarantine regulations make the sport even more expensive, and it becomes difficult for equestrian enthusiasts to get horses into India, adding more and more equestrian competitions should be conducted to popularise the sport in India.
“There is no doubles versus singles in Davis Cup. You always factor the opposition, surface, conditions and combinations. If you just go down the ranking as a compliance exercise every time, I don’t think we can achieve the right combination of players to try and win the tie,” Bhupathi added.
AITA selection committee chairman S. P. Misra said the decision was based purely on the recommendation of the non- playing captain.
“Rohan Bopanna and Balaji had played an excellent match against Uzbekistan ( in Bengaluru, in April 2017). Their combination was good, so on the captain’s advice we picked Balaji. Also, there was no time to ask for the availability of other players because only yesterday morning we got to know about Divij and Yuki’s unavailability,” Misra said.
A source privy to the selection said Jeevan was not suited for clay courts.
“On clay, you need someone who can hit the ball very hard. With someone like Jeevan it won’t work on clay. All these factors were considered while making a decision, so Balaji was the better choice,” the source said.
However, Nedunchezhiyan’s results this year show that out of his seven finals on the ATP Challenger Tour, two were on the clay courts of Savannah and Tallahassee in the United States.
So, he has won three titles this season and ended runnerup in four, out of which two were on clay.
Asked about Purav Raja, another source said the AITA was not happy with the way he played in the World Group Play- off tie against Canada in September 2017.
“He did not play according to the expectations in the tie against Canada, so he was not considered,” said the source.”
Mirza, who bagged silver in individual jumping, is the first Indian to win an Asiad individual medal in equestrian since 1982 besides guiding the country to a secondplace finish in the team competition
I wanted a balanced team. We have a lefty in Prajnesh already and I wanted someone who can serve big as well. — MAHESH BHUPATHI India Davis Cup captain