Indian riders to the fore

IT is still early days for summer but for the men on horseback, an Indian summer was a distinct reality in the vast expanse of Agram Grounds at the ASC Centre here in Bangalore.

K. C. VIJAYA KUMAR

IT is still early days for summer but for the men on horseback, an Indian summer was a distinct reality in the vast expanse of Agram Grounds at the ASC Centre here in Bangalore. The International tent pegging competition held from February 28 to March 2 reverberated to the drum-beat of hooves as the Indian `A' and `B' teams swept past the riders from the United Kingdom and Israel.

The India `A' team of Jaswinder Singh, Yoginder Yadav, Dayanand and Jagdish Singh guided their steeds with focus and finesse while nailing the pegs, slicing lemons and spearing the rings in the various events of tent pegging. Jaswinder Singh was the pick and he also topped the individual events while edging past stiff competition from his `A' teammates and the `B' team riders.

The `challengers tag' was bequeathed to the India `B' team of Sumer Singh, Jasbir Singh, Satpal Singh and Jitender Singh. And it is to their credit that they lived up to the billing. The International flavour though remained mute as only the Israeli riders had a measure of consistency while the riders from the United Kingdom with the exception of Harry Whitebread seemed to make the numbers. They often rode feebly past the 15m finish line without nailing the pegs as their mounts steered away from the pegs. And the odd lance slipping in the final charge was an index of the weak opposition that hardly stoked the competitive fires amidst the Indian riders.

National Equestrian Championship

The ASC Centre had an extended tryst with an air heavy with dust churned by charging horses as the National equestrian championship and the Bangalore horse show were also held at the same venue from February 23 to March 2.

The local favourite Arun Maribashetti held sway in the show jumping grade I event astride CJ-15 and he also basked in victory's warmth astride his favourite steed while clearing the show jumping six bar open event of the Bangalore horse show.

The arclights also stayed bright on RVC's Deep Ahlawat who emerged with the numero uno status in the grade III top score event. Riding Mirza, Deep (930 pts) even glided past the steep `Joker' jump that promised 200 points while edging past his eminent rivals — Sameer Lamba (ASC) and Arun Maribashetti.

The prize for endurance and sheer grit however belonged to the host ASC's I.S. Lamba astride Tipsy, who topped the gruelling three-day event that included a cross country along with the show jumping and dressage segments. Lamba had the least penalty points at 65.80 to breathe easy past ASC's Jagat Singh and RVC's Bhagirath.

And when the dust settled, the organisers — ASC Centre and College — had enough reasons to raise a toast as the venue was approved by the International governing body, to host three-day events. The ASC Centre has also been appointed as a nodal agency for spotting equestrian talent and with it successfully hosting two successive National meets, it is expected that a few riders will emerge from this 1000 acre sprawl and help the tricolour flutter high and bright in the Olympics and other global meets.

The results:International competition:

Tent pegging lance (individual): 1. Jaswinder Singh (India `A'), Jasmine, 36; 2. Satpal Singh (India `B'), Shehzadi, 35.5; 3. Jitender Singh (India `B'), Shenshah, 34.5.

Tent pegging lemon swords 2 runs: 1. Jaswinder Singh (India `A'), Khalifa, 30; 2. Harry Whitebread (UK), Champa, 28; 3. Sumer Singh (India `B'), Nisha, 26.

Tent pegging, lance — team (read `rider', `horse': 1. India `A' (Yoginder Yadav, Rajkumar; Dayanand, Nisha; Jaswinder Singh, Jasmine; and Satpal Singh, Quick Silver) 128 pts; 2. India `B' (Sumer Singh, Pepsi; Jitender Singh, Shenshah; Jasbir Singh, Mehtab; and Satpal Singh, Shehzadi) 109.5; 3. Israel (Yara, Lady Ancy; Achsan Mrich, Best Star; Mor, Tony; and Asaf Yoesfian, Jai Hind) 39.

Tent pegging, Indian file sword - 2 runs: 1. India `A' (Yoginder Singh Yadav, Rajkumar; Jaswinder Singh, Jasmine; Dayanand, Nisha; and Jagdish, Quick Silver) 27.5; 2. India `B' (Satpal Singh, Pepsi; Jitender Singh, Shenshah; Sumer Singh, Mehtab; and Jasbir Singh, Shehzadi) 14.5; 3. Israel (Mor, Tony; Yara, Lady Ancy; Asaf Yoesfian, Jai Hind; and Aschan Mrich, Best Star) 4.

Tent pegging sword (team): 1. India `A' (Yoginder Yadav, Rajkumar; Dayanand, Nisha; Jaswinder Singh, Jasmine; and Jagdish Singh, Quick Silver) 96; 2. India `B' (Sumer Singh, Pepsi; Jitender Singh, Shenshah; Jasbir Singh, Mehtab; and Satpal Singh, Shehzadi) 65; 3. Israel (Yara, Lady Ancy; Achsan Mrich, Best Star; Mor, Tony; and Asaf Yoesfian, Jai Hind).

Tent pegging rings and pegs-lances two runs: 1. Jaswinder Singh (India `A'), Jasmine, 30; 2. Jagdish Singh (India `A'), Quicksilver, 24; 3. Jasbir Singh (India `B'), Mehtab, 23.5.

National equestrian championship

Show jumping, Grade I: Arun Maribashetti (KMP), CJ-15, 8 penalty points; 2. I.J. Lamba (ASC), Typsy, 20; 3. J.P. Mashi (RVC), Mast Molla, 41.

Show jumping, Grade III: 1. Deep Ahlawat (RVC), Mirza, 8 penalty points; 2. B. Sri Kumar, Milton, 10; 3. Sameer Lamba (ASC), Pentire; Aliya Das Gupta, Sunshine; and Sajjan Kumar, Fariyad, 12.

Show jumping (puissance): 1. Danii Swittens (Self), On the Edge; 2. S.S. Ahlawat (East Comd.), Tauquade; Arun Maribashetti (KMP), CJ-15.

Novice top-score: 1. N.K. Ramotar (ASC), Taz; 2. A.S. Randhawa (61 Cav.), Nobleman; 3. Arun Maribashetti (KMP), VP-2; Dinesh Kumar (RVC), Raaz.

Grade III, Top score: 1. Deep Ahlawat (RVC), Mirza, 930; 2. Sameer Lamba (ASC), Pentire, 870; 3. Arun Maribashetti (KMP), Archives, 750; 4. Rajesh Pattu (61 Cavalry), Shezada, 750.

Three-day event (team): 1. ASC `A' (Ram Niwas, S.S. Ahlawat and I.S. Lamba), penalties 292.20; 2. RVC `A' (Bhagirathi, Gulab Singh, Deep Ahlawat and R.K. Dahiya), 466.61; 3. ASC `B' (Hem Raj and Jagat Singh), 1277.00.

Three-day event (individual): 1. I.S. Lamba (ASC), Tipsy, penalties 65.80; 2. Jagat Singh (ASC), North Star, 78.60; 3. Bhagirath (RVC), Missile, 105.81; Ram Niwas (ASC), Maharani, 110.60.

One-day event (team): 1. RVC `C' (R.L. Mali, Sunil Kumar, Lakhan Singh and A.K. Shukla); 2. 61 Cavalry `A' (S. Dewan, A.S. Randhawa, R. Pattu and Shabir Ali); 3. BSF (Navrattan, Jagmahinder, Sumer Singh and Kashmir Singh); 4. ASC `A' (Sameer Lamba, Ram Niwas, Satvir and Hemraj).

One-day event (individual): 1. Jagmahinder Singh (BSF), Neelam; 2. Palwinder Singh (RVC), Ginee; 3. Gulab Singh (RVC), Ranjha; 4. Vivek Mishra (RVC), Miss India.

Tent-pegging (individual): 1. Ashok Sharma (BARI), Eye Opener; 2. Chandra (RVC), Jasmine; 3. Sumer Singh (BSF), Bijli; 4. Manoj Kumar (RVC), Tambola.

Tent pegging (team): 1. ASC `A' (Jogender Singh Yadav astride Raj Kumar, Sish Ram astride Nisha, Sampath Singh astride Shaktiman and Jitender Singh astride Shesha); 2. Punjab Police `B' (Satpal Singh astride Hero, Jagdish Singh astride Jasmine, Jasvir Singh astride Shehzadi and Jasbir Singh astride Mehtab); 3. ITBP (Daya Nara astride Hawa Hawaj, Surender Singh astride Green Soil, Karam Singh astride Lady Anez and Sampat Singh astride Nisha).

Bangalore horse show (winners only):

Dressage junior: Tim Tim Sharma (ARPA), Hans: Sub-junior: Nidhi Dev (ECE), Time for Change. Open: S. Dewan (62 Cavalry), Tamra.

Show jumping: Gulab Singh (RVC), Victor. Novice: R.K. Dahiya (RVC), Famous.

Cadet: Ravinder Pratap (No. 1 R & V Squadron NCC Orissa), North Star.

Show jumping, sub-junior: Shashank Shrishrimal (ARPA), Taz. Six Bar Open: Arun Maribashetti (KMP), CJ-15.

Open jumping, successive relay: Deep Ahlawat (RVC), Mirza and J.P. Masih (RVC), Mast Mullah, 23.

Ladies hacks: Judi Bidappa (EIRS), Sparker, Children hacks: Ridhima Kumar (ARPA), Taj. Sub-junior hacks: Sanjana Madappa, Dealers Ace. Hunters: Tim Tim Sharma (ARPA), Sagar. Junior jump: Dilip Kumar (RVC), North Star.