MOC members stall EFI-TOPS bid to exclude Fouaad Mirza from Core Group

Fouaad Mirza should have known it was coming. Even if he has largely stayed away from India and the politics that seems to come with the turf in Equestrian sport in the country each time the Asian Games comes by, Olympian Fouaad Mirza should have expected a backlash from the powers that be in the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).

The 2018 Asian Games silver medallist’s public statements against EFI to include him as an Asian Games probable because it had revised criteria for a number of riders, including making a mockery of the horse-rider combination concept, have resulted in the mandarins concurring with a Target Olympic Podium secretariat proposal to exclude him from TOPS Core Group.

Some sensible members of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) stalled his exclusion from TOPS on Thursday. They convinced the MOC to let a sub-committee examine the proposal before being brought up for consideration by the MOC, reminding the group that he was India’s main hope of making it to Olympic Games next year. 

In a presentation made to the meeting of MOC on Thursday, the TOPS Secretariat told the members that TOPS and EFI were in agreement that India’s best Equestrian rider did not deserve to be retained in the TOPS Core Group since he had not been included as an Asian Games probable.

The TOPS presentation got it wrong that the selection criteria was for a rider-horse combination to get at least 1 Minimum Eligibility Requirements. The Selection Criteria announced on August 17 last needed the combinations to get three MERs in four trials. Besides, the TOPS presentation said he participated in just one event between August 2022 and February 2023.

It will help to spend time understanding why Fouaad Mirza stayed away from the Equestrian Federation of India’s selection process for the Asian Games. Before we delve into that, it must be understood that the Asian Games is a CCI (Concours Complet International) 2-star event while Fouaad Mirza and Seigner Medicott were getting ready for a CCI 5-star event.

EFI announced the revised selection criteria on August 17, 2022. Preparing for the World Equestrian Games competition a month later, it was always unlikely that Fouaad Mirza and Seigneur Medicott would have found a CCI 2-star event to compete in to be in the running for an Asian Games berth.

After finishing 50th in the World Equestrian Games in Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy (September 15 to 17), it was natural that Fouaad Mirza would budget a period of rest for his horse. A look at the combination’s performances over the past couple of years is revealing. They competed together in four events, including the Olympic Games, in 2021 and six in 2022.

Even more revealing is the fact that the Germany-based combination has never featured in a competition in the winter months of December, January and February. Since the EFI had decided that the last date for trials would be February 15, 2023, Fouaad Mirza knew that Seigneur Medicott and he would not find four 2-star events to get three MERs in.

It is well known that Dajara 4, the horse he was toying with the idea of partnering at the Olympic Games in 2021 before he settled on Seigneur Medicott, has not been in a competition since June 2021. Fouaad Mirza is now blooding younger horses Kensington and Cazaan’s Cecotto B in Eventing. 

If a TOPS Research Officer or an Athlete Relationship Manager had reached out to Fouaad Mirza, she or he would have discovered that Ballytarsna Colonel Le, with whom the rider had a partnership across six competition last year, is no longer his second horse. TOPS would spared itself of the embarrassment of stating that Ballytarsna Colonel Le is his second choice. 

It is a mystery why a Sports Authority of India official called Fouaad Mirza for an online meeting, but made him feel unwanted and uncared for. The official is said to have repeatedly asked him why he did not take part in the selection trials and yet expected now to be included as a probable. It was almost as if SAI was speaking on behalf of a clueless EFI.

In the past few weeks, Fouaad Mirza was not wrong in for a fair chance to be able to serve the Indian team in the Hangzhou Asian Games this year. His sole point was if the other riders (and not the rider-horse combinations that took part in trials) were getting a chance to be probables with new horses as their partners, he also deserved a look in. 

But then, EFI was never keen on fielding the strongest team possible, was it?