Pundir, the son of a former Army equestrian participant Gulab Singhadded all through a press convention right here that the EFI concealed an important element from him that Indian horses can not compete in China on account of sure quarantine rules, which value him an important time in on the lookout for an appropriate horse in Europe or in different places.
“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,” mentioned Pundir, who added that he used to be a number of the shortlisted probables within the trials carried out “before the Covid-19 outbreak”.
“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 Pundir.
He mentioned that whilst the pre-COVID variety standards entailed qualifying in only one out of 5 trials, it used to be modified to qualifying in 3 out of 4 trials within the new variety procedure set after the pandemic.
The Asian Games had been scheduled in 2022 however had been postponed by way of a yr because of the surge in COVID-19 instances in China. The EFI, accordingly, made up our minds to revise its variety standards because of the postponement. The Asian Games are actually scheduled to start 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.
Pundir additionally mentioned he shifted to Lithuania looking for a steed and to coach and compete as a way to reach the Asian Games qualifying requirements set by way of 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 mentioned Pundir used to be given the entire toughen from the federation and that the rider knew Indian horses weren’t allowed in China (because of quarantine problems).
“He could have utilized 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,” mentioned Jaiveer.
“He then chose Lithuania as his training base.”
On why he used to be requested to participate in competitions 1000’s of kilometers clear of his coaching base in Lithuania, Jaiveer mentioned, “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, alternatively, hasn’t misplaced hope and mentioned he’s going to transfer courtroom to get a “substitute entry” for the Asian Games, which closes on September 16.