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India rider Chirag makes Asian Games cut, but will still miss out
After the Apex court ordered the EFI to name Chirag in the Asian Games long list, the rider finds himself out of contention due to a bizarre turn of events
A day after the Supreme Court directed the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) to include Chirag Khandal in the rider-horse long list for the upcoming Asian Games, the 20-year-old's dreams of competing went up in smoke as his preferred mount is no longer available to him.
It is learnt that Veni Vedi Vici, the horse on which Chirag achieved three Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MERs) in France, has been leased to one of the Indian riders already in Sain-Geravis in southern France. The horse belongs to Rodolphe Scherer, who was India's coach during the last Asian Games. Rodolphe doesn't hold any official position in Indian equestrian now but is in line to be named national coach soon.
Interestingly, in a letter dated December 15, 2022 (a copy is with HT), Rodolphe had extended his contract with Chirag till September 2023 while quoting a fee of 56,250 euros. As recently as Friday, Rodolphe and his wife Aude, in a series of WhatsApp exchanges with Chirag's father, sought to discuss the finances ahead of leasing Veni to Chirag. However, the letter of consent and NOC required from the horse owner was never sent, and on Saturday afternoon EFI wrote to Chirag informing him that Veni has been leased to another rider.
"Mr Rodolphe Scherer is the owner of Veni Vedi Vici. Mr Rodolphe Scherer in his email of 20 May 2023 has informed us that the horse Veni Vedi Vici has been given to another rider," the email sent by EFI secretary general Colonel Jaiveer reads.
The letter gave Chirag time until 5 PM on Saturday -- roughly four-and-a-half hours from the time the mail was sent -- to find a horse in Europe and obtain NOC. "Please indicate the name of the horse along with FEI ID and NOC from the owner/lessor in terms of Para 28 (d) of Selection Criteria V5 by 1700 hours today," the mail states.
Informed that Rodolphe had leased the horse without informing Chirag, EFI wrote back saying leasing of horses remains the owners' prerogative.
"We are here to support all our athletes but at the same time you must be aware that the long list has to go of horse rider combinations wherein the horses could be either owned or leased by the rider. The National Federation has no control over the same. It is the prerogative of the owner to give his horse to who so ever he/she wishes. The Federation does not interfere in such matters," Colonel Jaiveer wrote, effectively dashing Chirag's chances of going to the Huangzhou Asian Games in September-October.
Chirag was supposed to join six other riders -- Ashish Limaye, Apurva Dabhade, Vikas Kumar, Raju Singh, Rakesh Kumar and Ashish Malik -- in France. At least four riders are already in France and have begun training on leased horses. With Saturday being the deadline to send the list and Chirag not having a horse, his entry stands to be rejected by the international equestrian federation (FEI) since the list needs to name the rider and horse combinations, not the rider alone.
