The Equestrian Federation of India has clarified the cancellation of the Asian Games squad and the reasons behind it, a day after naming riders for eventing and jumping.
The selection committee’s squad for the Asian Games 2018 had been announced previously, only for the EFI to reverse its decision a day later, in a surprise turn of events. Four riders for eventing and three for show jumping were selected previously.
Speaking to the Times of India, EFI president Ashok Ambre spoke about the lack of riders meeting the required criteria for the quadrennial event, “No rider has met the criteria for any of the team or individual events ie in eventing, show jumping and dressage.”
Due to the rule that three riders were required for an equestrian team to be selected in eventing, two of the trio were picked despite only meeting two of the three required qualifications in the dressage, cross-country and show jumping categories. Also, there were discrepancies in the selections of riders at home and abroad, with the former receiving only five chances to qualify compared to no restrictions for the latter. For the foreign selections, three jury members were required while only two were present.
Show jumping followed the same pattern as eventing as only one rider met all the three qualification criteria with the other riders, who had just two results selected. Similar to eventing, a show jumping team selection also requires three riders.
The minutes of the meeting read, “The selection committee also explored the possibility of sending riders for individual competition but there was no rider with qualifying score for individual completion. Hence, there was no possibility of fielding a dressage team on an individual entry.”
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