Equestrian entries for Asian Games under scrutiny

The IOA's list of entries includes four entries in Eventing, with no participation in Show Jumping and Dressage.

IOA has already forwarded the list of final entries for Asian games. (Representational Image)

The selection of Equestrian team refuses to die despite the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) having already sent the final list of entries for the upcoming Asian Games.

The IOA's list of entries announced on Tuesday includes four entries in Eventing, with no participation in Show Jumping and Dressage. However Shruti Vora, who participated in Dressage in the 2014 edition, has alleged that the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) has been arbitrary and discriminating in its selections and sought the intervention of IOA president Narinder Batra in the matter. A copy of Vora's letter is with Sportstar.

Batra, on his part, has now sought a meeting with the EFI president (Lt. Gen. Ashok Ambre) and secretary general (Col. R.K. Swain) on Saturday before arriving at a final decision. “In case they do not come then they should be informed that the IOA will assume they have nothing to say and that the views of the athletes are correct. IOA will be free to take its own decision in all fairness for Eventing, Show Jumping & Dressage, since complaints of fairness in selection process are coming in all three events of Equestrian,” Batra wrote to IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta, who met Vora on Tuesday.

However, given that the last date for entry is well past, there is uncertainty on the outcome of the meeting. Sources said even the Eventing team cleared for the Asian Games might be under scrutiny given that the EFI, in its revised list, only changed one name, dropping three-time medalist Rajesh Pattu. Amidst all this, the EFI is also expected to hold a final trials for all 12 rider-horse combinations in Eventing later this month to finalise the four names for Asiad.