Indian dressage player Gaurav Pundir on Monday alleged that the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) created several obstacles in his way to ensure that he did not qualify for the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, adding that he will move court to get his name included through “substitute entry” for the quadrennial continental showpiece event.
Gaurav Pundir, the son of a former Army equestrian player Gulab Singh, added during a press conference here that the EFI hid crucial detail from him that Indian horses cannot compete in China because of certain quarantine regulations, which cost him crucial time in searching for a suitable horse in Europe or elsewhere.
“The EFI officials had come to know in March last year that Indian horses will not be allowed to compete in China (because of quarantine issues), but they did not share this information with me,” said Gaurav Pundir, who added that he was among the shortlisted probables in the trials conducted “before the COVID-19 outbreak”.
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“In order to ensure I don’t compete abroad, they kept making things difficult by not helping me procure a visa to travel to Europe besides other things,” he added.
“(By hiding this bit about China not allowing Indian horses), they (EFI officials) ensured that I could not travel abroad in search of a horse and train in Europe for nearly a year. Their aim was to eliminate me from the Asian Games selection process,” alleged Gaurav Pundir.
He said that while the pre-COVID selection criteria entailed qualifying in just one of five trials, it was changed to qualifying in three out of four trials in the new selection process set after the pandemic. The Asian Games were scheduled in 2022 but were postponed by a year due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in China. The EFI, accordingly, decided to revise its selection criteria due to the postponement. The Asian Games are now scheduled to commence on September 23.
“The EFI changed the selection criteria for the second trials. Instead of one qualification in five trials in the pre-COVID trials, in the new criteria a rider had to qualify in three out of four trials. When I questioned the change in criteria, they started targeting me,” alleged Pundir.
Gaurav Pundir also said he shifted to Lithuania in search of a steed and to train and compete in order to attain the Asian Games qualifying standards set by EFI. “But the three competitions where I had to compete and attain Asian Games qualifying standards were like 2000km away from my training base. When I requested the EFI to give me competitions closer to my training base, the plea was turned down. I was forced to travel to Belgium and Germany from Lithuania to compete in the events and attain Asiad qualifying standards,” alleged Pundir.
“My horse couldn’t take the long and strenuous journeys and we could not compete in one competition,” he added. However, EFI secretary-general Jaiveer Singh said Gaurav Pundir was given all the support from the federation and that the rider knew Indian horses were not allowed in China (due to quarantine issues).
“He could have utilised the time he wasted litigating against EFI to look for a training base in Germany or France where all his teammates were training and competing to attain Asian Games qualifying standards,” said Jaiveer. “He then chose Lithuania as his training base.”
On why he was asked to take part in competitions thousands of kilometres away from his training base in Lithuania, Jaiveer said, “The foreign coach chalks out the competition schedule. EFI has no role to play in that, so he cannot blame us that we sent him to compete 2000km away.”
“There are four other Indian dressage players who chose France and Germany to train, So why would we discriminate against him when he too was on our probables’ list. Still, we allowed Pundir to compete in three competitions to attain Asian Games qualifying standards, but I believe he returned below-par performances in two events while in the third competition, his horse turned lame,” added Jaiveer.
Pundir, however, hasn’t lost hope and said he will move court to get a “substitute entry” for the Asian Games, which closes on September 16.
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