Jakarta: Fouaad Mirza became Sunday the first Indian to win an Asian Games individual medal in the equestrian event since 1982 besides guiding the country to a second-place finish in the team competition here.
Mirza won the silver medal in individual jumping with a score of 26.40, while Japan’s Oiwa Yoshiaki clinched the gold with a score of 22.70. China’s Hua Tian Alex finished in third position to win the bronze medal, with a score of 27.10.
The Indian team, comprising Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Malik and Jitender Singh apart from Mirza, also claimed the silver with a score of 121.30, the feats coming days after their last-minute arrival owing to infighting in the Equestrian Federation of India. Japan finished on top with a score of 82.40, while Thailand bagged the bronze with a score of 126.70.
Fouaad topped the dressage and cross-country qualifiers with a score of 22.40 and went into the jumping finals as a favourite. In the medal round, he notched up 26.40 to bag silver in the three-day competition.
Fouaad’s feat came days after the Indian equestrian team’s nightmarish journey to the Indonesian capital as it got accreditation only a day before it was scheduled to leave for the Asian Games.
Infighting among office-bearers in the Equestrian Federation of India, which saw the EFI declare the selection null and void, only made it worse for the athletes.
India had previously won 10 medals in the sport, including three golds. The last individual medal in the event came in 1982 when Raghubir Singh finished on the podium in the Indian capital.
