Categories: opinion

Eventers from India aspire to participate in next Asian Games

India aspire, Asian Games, Olympics, CIC triathlon, Zaroch Bharucha, Captain Mark Phillips

The Equestrian Eventing season in UK has had a flying start because of the dry spring, so far no events have been cancelled due to muddy conditions. Bay horses Captain Morgan and OrleansII came galloping out of the beautiful bluebell woods at Hambleden International , ridden by ZaroshBharucha for “EqusIndia” in the prestigious FEI (governing body of the sport) CIC triathlon. Eventing consists of three disciplines Dressage, Show-jumping and Cross Country; it is physically demanding on the both the horse and the rider, the horse has to have athleticism, endurance and courage, the rider has to possess great horsemanship skills, perseverance and courage. The Equs India team is sponsored by the real estate corporation Embassy Group based in Bangalore, Chairman Jitu Virwani and his wife Lina are horse enthusiasts and have high hopes for their individuals to join an Indian team to compete in Asiad XVIII in Jakarta 2018, the Asian Games is the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics. So far the team has only two members, Bharucha and Fouaad Mirza, they are on the look-out for a third; there are not many Indian eventers on the UK circuit, Barucha was noticeable as his smart horses sport the Indian Tricolour on their numnahs and rugs.

Zaroch Bharucha has been riding since he was 8 years old, one summer in the city of Bangalore his parents were looking to occupy his energy and plugged him in into a riding school, from whence he has never looked back. Up till the age of 16 he competed as a show jumper as Indian rules forbid eventing till the age of 16 years. Eventing was the decider in the venue for his University education as England is the world capital of eventing, he has found the eventing fraternity friendly and inclusive but he misses Indian cuisine, no bad thing as he is watching his weight as jockeys are supposed to be quite slim. He says “I love the adrenalin of eventing and problem solving the quirks and challenges that horses present”. Previously Bharucha has trained with Captain Mark Phillips, Olympic Gold medallist and former husband of the Princess Royal; today in between studies he trains with Willa Newton in Leicestershire, riding early every day but in May Bharucha will graduate from Nottingham University in financial mathematics and he will then join Mirza in Germany to train with Bettina Hoy, who competes for Germany.

The two horses at Hambleden looked glossy and fit, in only their third completion this season the warmbloodOrleansII was 7th and the younger Irish Sport Horse Captain Morgan who performed an excellent Dressage Test was 14th, both very respectable results so early on, especially as Bharucha was not gunning for the time limit set in the cross-country section in order to preserve his horses’ legs as the track was relatively hard. The EqusIndia team will be competing around European fixtures this summer, including in qualifier trials for the Asian Games.

Antonia Filmer