New Delhi, India, June 1, 2021: With two Asian Games silver medals already in his collection, Fouaad Mirza will be the first Indian to participate in an equestrian event at the Olympics in more than 20 years in Tokyo this summer.
The 29-year-old Mirza, who won silver medals in the individual eventing and team eventing at the Asian Games in 2018, sealed his berth at Tokyo 2020 after meeting the Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) at the Equestrian Festival Baborowko in Poland on Sunday, the Olympic Channel reports.
Mirza, who is based in Germany, had earlier booked a Tokyo 2020 quota in 2019 after finishing the highest ranked in Group G for South East Asia and Oceania in the individual eventing category but had to wait to meet the MER criteria and confirm his spot officially.
He will be the third Indian individual equestrian to participate at the Olympics after Indrajit Lamba (1996 Atlanta) and Imtiaz Anees (2000 Sydney).
Bengaluru-born Mirza had horse riding in his genes. His father, Dr. Hasneyn Mirza, is a sixth-generation horseman and an equestrian veterinarian and passed on his love of horses to his sons Fouaad and Aly Asker.
Looking back on his two silver medals at Jakarta in 2018, Mirza said: “The 2018 medals really boosted people’s confidence to pursue the sport back at home.
“We're still at the grassroots and I think people still need to know more about the sport before they can really support me like they support their cricket team," he told fei.org.
Source: Samrat Chakraborty, Olympic Channel