Divyakriti Singh Rathore, who won the gold at the 2023 Asian Games in the Dressage Team event, said that equestrian needed more support from the corporates and the government to develop adequate infrastructure in India.
“Rajasthan has the history, but India as a whole lacks the infrastructure at the moment for us to compete with leading equestrian nations. In terms of weather and climate, infrastucture, coaching and equipment. I started riding in India in my school. When I decided I want to pursue it professionally, I had to move to Europe in 2020 and have been settled abroad for four years. I would love to do it from India and that is my ultimate aim,” she said during Sportstar’s Sports Conclave - Focus Rajasthan - held at Poornima University here on Saturday.
Howevever, the 25-year-old acknowledged that the sport was growing in India and that States took take a leaf out of Madhya Pradesh’s book.
“In the last three years, the sport has grown exponentially in India. Hundred horses per year have been imported into India. Riding schools have come up, and also associations and clubs. It is an expensive sport and we need backing from the corporates, government. Madhya Pradesh, for example, they sent their riders, they acquired horses for them abroad. They have already sent a team of six riders to Europe to train for 2028 Olympics. That is phenomenal and a great example to learn from,” she added.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled ‘Project Gold - Producing medal winners from Rajasthan’, moderated by Sportstar assistant editor Jonathan Selvaraj, Divyakriti also urged the State government to earmark ‘priority’ sports in order to produce Olympic champions.
“Rajasthan has a very rich history when it comes to equestrian sports. The last gold medal was won 41 years ago and we recreated that last year at the Asian Games. In the last decade or so, we have had more than 15 riders from Rajasthan who have won medals at the Asian Games. There are a lot of riders who have been awarded the Arjuna Award - all from Rajasthan. The sports policy is in place, but we need to earmark priority sports. Shooting, archery, athletics, equestrian - these are Olympic sports in which Rajasthan has done really well. We have the athletes and the talent, and with the right backing and support from the government, we can have a way forward,” she said.
Meanwhile, shooter Shagun Chowdhary, the first Indian to participate in the Olympics in clay pigeon shooting, said that Rajasthan needed to invest in sectors other than just infrastructure, and also emphasised the need to improve the standards of coaching.
“What is important for any State is to first invest in in infrastucture, then sports science, strength and conditioning. Rajasthan has invested in infrastructure but it is not at par with other States as far as the other factors are concerned. Last year, there was an incident where a coach molested his students and it became a huge issue. The girl stopped coming to the range. Rajasthan has immense talent but if you don’t support it with equipment and infrastructure, it goes to waste,” she said.
“Investment in the right coaching is important. A bad coach inculcates bad habits, and then the next coach has to make you unlearn a lot of things. They can confuse a child so much, and instead of appreciating the sport, he gets into nuances which are not even important,” Shagun added.
Dronacharya Awardee and Para coach Ripu Daman Singh highlighted the need for the government to expand its investment in infrastructure beyond the scope of the larger cities.
“Governments have made promises in the past and will continue to do so, but until the athlete and the coach don’t have a fire in their belly, they can’t play sports... From my small makeshift hostel, I have produced five Arjuna Awards, two Khel Ratna awards, two Padma Shree and one Padma Bhushan. I urge the government to provide faciltiies even in the small towns.The biggest problem the coaches enrolled with the government is that by the time they prepare an athlete, they are transferred, he said.
World champion in compound archery, Rajat Chauhan, also urged the government to connect the youth at the grassroots to sports.
Divyansh Singh Panwar, Asian Games gold medallist, highlighted the crucial role played by the coaches and parents in the life of an athlete, and said that he was looking to go beyond the weight of expectations.
The Sportstar Sports Conclave - Focus Rajasthan - is powered by Poornima University, with Indian Oil, SBI, and Pratiyogita Darpan as associate partners, Great SportsTech as the Sports Technology Partner, KPMG as Knowledge Partner, and Spark as the Media Partner.
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