Eyeing Asian Continental C'ships EFI announces new competitions

New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) on Friday announced an extensive calendar of 41 competitions for the 2024-25 season, as it looks to develop quality riders and string together a strong team for next year's Asian Continental Championships.
     India will be hosting the Asian Equestrian Federation (AEF)-sanctioned U-21 Regional Group III international competitions for the first time in show jumping and dressage on borrowed horses along with two para-dressage national events apart from three selection trials each for dressage, jumping and eventing respectively.
    The events will serve as a base to pick the Indian team for the Asian Continental Championships, to be held in Pattaya, Thailand, in December next year.
     The 2024-25 season will start on August 11 with the Sapta Shakti Horse Show in Jaipur with the AEF U-21 show jumping competition scheduled for October 12-13 while the dressage meet will take place at the Army Polo and Riding Centre from November 28 to December 1.
     The EFI will also be introducing the para-dressage competitions for the first time with the first event to be held from October 18-20. Post which, the second event will take place between October 23-25 at the TARC Equestrian Centre, Chhatarpur.
     "We have been showing remarkable progress on the international stage in the last few years and EFI is determined to build on our success in the 2022 Asian Games, where we won a gold and one bronze," said EFI secretary general Col. Jaiveer Singh.
     "We want to now focus on building a strong supply line of riders and also try and win as many medals at the Asian Continental Championships next year.
     "Therefore, there are many new events in this season's calendar as we want to give as much exposure to riders as possible."
     The selection trials for the Asian Continental Championships will begin with show jumping at TARC Centre on December 7 and trials will be held for all three categories over the period of next four months.
     EFI will also conduct show jumping, dressage and tent pegging events for sub-junior and junior and young riders category and the top-10 riders in tent pegging will be considered for selection for the AEF U-21 tent pegging international to be held in Mumbai in March next year.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)