Equestrian Federation of India steals a march over other NSFs by organising Junior Nationals in Delhi

The Equestrian Federation of India stole a march over all other National Sports Federation by successfully completing the National Junior Equestrian Championship and the preliminary competition the National Equestrian Championship (Jumping) at the Ar.my Polo and Riding Club in Delhi from on December 18 to 27

The beleaguered Federation, currently without a President and a Vice-President (Administration), did very well to become the first National Sports Federation to put together a meet of this stature in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is gathered that nearly 175 riders from across the country took part in the 10-day meet.

Shashank Kanumuri showed his class won the Best Rider award in the juniors’ category, securing the best combined totals in Dressage and Jumping. He rode Qurt De Montplaisir to the Dressage gold and Nu Star to silver medal in Jumping (normal) and claim the top award in what must go down as the first Junior National competition in the country in several months.

The result sheet on the EFI website only lists the top four riders/teams without giving the scores in detail. Thus, even if one wants to see the margin of victory in any of the 25 events that were concluded, one will have to use other resources to secure the details. But then, the very fact that the Junior National Equestrian Championship was conducted is worthy of  celebration.

Credit should also go to the teams that managed to reach their horses to Delhi despite difficulties presented by the circumstances around the National Capital.  

To be fair, Equestrian Federation of India has already conducted a handful of FEI World Challenge events in the past couple of months.

The results:

Children – II (10-12 years)

Jumping (normal): 1. Jaiveer Makkar on Democratic; 2. Hanshika on Richenss; 3. Padmini Rao on Jai.

Jumping (normal) team: 1. EIRS/CEC/EGC (M Krishna Sahiti/Stakko, Arshit Goswami/Valentine; Jaiveer Verma/Qurt de Montplaisir, Jaiveer Makkar/Democratic); 2. ERC/VEA; 3. CEC/ED.

Jumping (Accumulator): 1. Jaiveer Makkar on Democratic; 2. Arjun Singh on Rudra Pratap; 3. M Krishna Sahiti on Pollina).

Dressage: 1. Avik Bhatia on Nicki (VEA-SESA; 2. Pradyutha on Strong Soldier (EGC/EIRS); 3. Arjun Singh on Armicassini (MPSEA).

Dressage (Team): 1. VEA/SESA (Avik Bhatia/Verdinand), Arjun Singh/Rockleer, Manya Shaktawat/Jai, Sanskar Rathore/Naushera); 2. EGC/EIRS; 3. REA/BRF.

Children – I (12-14 years)

Jumping (normal): 1. Bholu Parmar on La Vite Rockfill (MPSEA); 2. MK Karthikeya Reddy on Stakko; 3. Bholu Parmar on Harlicen (MPSEA).

Jumping (normal) team: 1. MPSEA Bhopal (Jyoti Vishwakarma/Amara, Md Hamza Aqil/Chandni, Bholu Parmar/Harlicen, Mallauya/Rockleer); 2. EIRS-B; 3. BRF.

Jumping (Accumulator): 1. Geetika Tikkisetty on Niquita; 2. Ritwik Chowdhury on Nu Star; 3. Akshaan Sihag on Ajooba.

Dressage: 1. Tanusha Kumari on Sechs Richtige; 2. Bholu Parmar on Herlican (MPSEA); 3. Ahaan Jaisinghania on Royce (BRF).

Dressage team: 1. EIRS (Ritwik Chowdhary/Qurt De Mont, Ananya Settipalli/Diamond Petal, Moksh Kothari/Vadim de Savia, Dhruv Kammili/Copetto); 2. MPSEA Bhopal, 3. BRF.

Juniors (14-18 years)

Jumping (normal): 1. Shlok Jhunjhunwala on Niquita (EIRS); 2.Shashank Kanumuri on Nu Star (EIRC); 3. Sagar Tomar on Cornets C.

Team: 1. EIRS/CEC-A(Easwar K/Dakar-Z, Malhar Nimbalkar/Lutrillo. Shashank Kanumuri/Nu Star, Tiyasha Vathul/Democratic); 2. HESA/GCE, 3. BSC.

Jumping (top score): 1. Tiyasha Vathul on Democratic (EIRS/CEC); 2.  Arjun Sharma on Trentin Meva (BSC); 3. Malhar Nibalkar on Lutrillo (EIRS-CEC).

Dressage: 1. Shashank Kanumuri on Qurt De Montplaisir (EIRS-CEC); 2. Jai Sud on Gses Royce (GSE); 3. Raju Singh on Harlicen (MPSEA, Bhopal).

Team: 1. EIRS/CEC (Shashank Kanumuri/Qurt de Montplaisir, Malhar Nimbalkar/Coepetto, Tiyasha Vathul/Verdinand, Easwar K/Dakar-Z) ; 2. MPSEA Bhopal; 3. GSE.

Young Rider (16-21 years)

Jumping (Normal): 1. Satya Kalra on Fashion Corner; 2. Rohit Singh on Vedant; 3. Omkar Akhade on Red Dragon.

Jumping (Normal) team: 1. RVA-A (Gagan Raghav/Zora, Sagar Kumar/Vazir, Sumit Kumar/Alfateh, Vishesh Malik/Gabriel).

Dressage: 1. Yuvraj Bhatia on Cavanmen (GSE); 2. Vinayak Khokka on Verdinand (VEA); 3. Vinayak Khokkar on Abraka Ka Dabra (VEA).

Team: 1. REA/VEA (Paridhi Joshi/Sevilla, Sudipti Hejela/Estelle, Vinayak Khokkar/Verdinand, Rohan Kumawat/Cantalina); 2. GSE; 3. MPSEA Bhopal.

Tent pegging Sword: 1.Pradyum Agarwal on Sparta; 2. Bhola Pathak on Noble); 3. Aftab Khan on Tej.

Tent pegging Lance: 1. Sagar Tomar on Mastana; 2. Arun Kumar on Govinda; 3. Anok Chaudhari on Tridev.

Tent pegging Ring and Peg – Lance: 1. Akash Kaushik on Allah Rakha; 2, Rahul Sawant on Tahir; 3. Arun Kumar on Govinda.

Take Your Own Line: 1. Sagar Kumar on Vazir (RVC); 2. Omkar Akhade on Red Dragaon; 3. Shiva Hooda on Velocity.

National Equestrian Championship (prelims)

Jumping (normal): 1. Abhishek Chopra on Nicki; 2. Pragati Tayal on Gemma; 3. Lt Col Raj Sangram Singh on Lion of the Heart.

Team: 1. VEA (Javed Khan/Mossad, Vinayak Khokkar/Verdinand, Pragati Tayal/Gemma, Kirat Singh Nagra/Haider).

[File photo, courtesy: Embassy International Riding School]