It is an irony that India’s top Show Jumping Equestrian athlete, France-based Maryk Sahney, has launched his dreams of qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 in right earnest at about the same time some of his compatriots are attempting Asian Games qualification on newly leased horses.
On Sunday, Maryk Sahney (on Chalouty PS), finished 31st among 45 entries in the Lons le Saunier Grand Prix CSI3* 1.55m, an Olympic Games qualifier, in France. A couple of days earlier, the combination completed a clear round in the CSI3* COGEF Prix but missed a jump off because it finished 2.68 seconds outside the 70-second cut off.
Maryk Sahney and Gold Run finished second in the Lons le Saunier CSI YH1* Prix Sofileta with a clear round in what was a good weekend for the Indian ace, with satisfying runs with other horses, Cashtender (CSI3* 1.35m and 1.45m) and Peter-Pan to show for his trip to the town in the Solvan valley in eastern France.
There are no prizes for guessing why Maryk Sahney is not in the mix for the Hangzhou Asian Games. In a story not different to Eventing star, Olympic Fouaad Mirza, Maryk Sahney’s exclusion is the result of apathy of the Equestrian Federation of India. With precious little intention of fielding the best possible team in the Asian Games, EFI ensured that he would be kept out of the selection process by insisting that he compete in two-round Show Jumping events to qualify for the Asian Games.
His plea that Europe, where he is based, does not have two-round Show Jumping events fell on deaf ears. And now, a twist of fate meant that riders who obtained their Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER) in India but have had to shift base and seek fresh qualification, are all competing in one-round events.
Meanwhile, Yash Nensee (on d’Amour du Nenuphar), Tejas Dhingra (Stan KJ) and Kirat Singh Nagra (Alvin B) competed in the Peelbergen CSI2* 1.40m Van Mossel Automative Prix at Kronenberg in the Netherlands on Friday but there is no indication if EFI would consider their participation as part of the final selection trials.
Yash Nensee and d’Amour du Nenuphar as well as Tejas Dhingra and Stan KJ finished with 8 penalties each while Kirat Singh Nagra and Alvin B picked up 12 penalties as they finished 41st, 42nd & 50th in the Peelbergen CSI2* 1.40m Van Mossel Automative Prix at Kronenberg in the Netherlands on Friday. Zahan Setalvad has not competed since being identified as a probable.
Eventing and Jumping riders await word from EFI on schedule
On April 24, EFI identified events in Redefin, Germany (May 4 to 7), Achleiten, Austria (June 15 to 18) and Kronberg, Germany (July 13 to 16) as the three final selection trials for Dressage combinations to compete in. And in doing this, EFI has put combinations that secured MERs to qualify as probables with combinations that have not yet to achieved MERs in same pot.
However, with just over a month left for the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee deadline of submission of final entries for all disciplines, EFI has not yet finalised such a schedule for rider-horse combinations in Eventing and Jumping. Clearly, the beleaguered EFI has had little concern for riders and their hard-earned money.
Among the Eventing riders who were told to travel to Europe and lease horses, Raju Singh rode Mawillan in the CCI2*-L event in Chaumont en Vexin on May 25 and secured an MER by scoring 37.8 but the Federation would not take cognizance of that. Apurva Dabhade, Vikas Kumar, Rakesh Kumar and Ashish Malik have not ridden after being named as probables.
Sadly, EFI Secretary-General has indicated that while riders and horses were free to compete in any event of their choice, it would not consider the performances in such events as fulfilling the EFI selection criteria. It has left the riders wondering if they would have to scramble to move their horses to be able compete in the set of events that EFI may eventually identify.
Photo: Courtesy Maryk Sahney Instagram
