At an age when most athletes begin to hit their peak, equestrian Chirag Khandal has decided to hang his boots. The 20-year-old, frustrated by the Equestrian Federation of India’s (EFI) “apathy and vindictiveness”, announced a shock retirement on Thursday. His decision follows his exclusion from India’s Asian Games squad despite accumulating the required Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) to make the cut for the Hangzhou Games.
Khandal, who attained a career-best rank of 1060 in May last year, retires ranked 1202 in the world. He last competed in May 2022 in France where he achieved one of his three MERs — finishing ahead of compatriots Ashish Limaye and Jitender Singh — and met EFI’s selection criterion for the Asian Games.
“I’m completely shattered. It’s with a very heavy heart that I’ve decided to quit the sport I so dearly loved,” the 20-year-old eventing rider who took to sports seven years back, said.
“I’ve exhausted my family’s savings and I’ve realised there’s no future for me here. I squarely blame an apathetic and vindictive EFI for this,” he added.
Chirag has had a rocky relationship with EFI and even took the federation to court over his exclusion. The Supreme Court in its May 19 order directed the federation to include Chirag’s name in the provisional list. However, a day later, the mount on which he achieved three MERs in France was leased out to another Indian rider Ashish Malik.
The horse, Veni Vedi Vici, belongs to Rodolphe Scherer, who trained Chirag for nine months (August 2021 – May 2022). It was during this phase that Khandal achieved the required MERs and qualified for the Asian Games.
“We were in touch with Rodolphe till a day before he leased the horse to another rider and he never hinted us about it. We felt cheated and it really affected Chirag. He has been contemplating his retirement since then and has finally made up his mind,” Chirag’s father Sandeep said.
Chirag’s decision also means that the entire family, having exhausted all its savings, will relocate to their native Jaipur from Gurugram. The youngster has already enrolled himself in a regular BA programme at Jaipur’s St Xavier’s College and plans a “regular, hassle-free life.”
“Scherer charged us 3125 euros per month, so you can imagine the cost. We sold off all our assets to fuel Chirag’s dream and hoped that a decent show at the Asian Games would bring in some sponsorship. I have spent close to ₹2 crore in 19 months but all that sacrifice has been rendered useless now, thanks to EFI,” said Sandeep, an IT consultant by profession.
“Now that we no longer have a house in Jaipur, we will move to a rented accommodation and start our lives all over again. There is an audio clip where EFI’s vice-president (finance) Harish Khokhar can be heard using filthy language against Chirag and proclaiming that he won’t be allowed to participate in the Asian Games at any cost. The recording was submitted to the Delhi High Court as well,” he added.
For Chirag, there is no going back on the decision. He accused Khokhar and secretary-general Colonel Jaiveer of derailing his career.
“To date, I don’t have a reason or an explanation from EFI on where I went wrong. They killed my dreams and aspirations. There is no point in reconsidering this decision because these people will continue to stay in EFI and will hurt my chances again. How can an athlete prosper in such a toxic environment?” said Chirag.
Responding to the allegations, Khokhar said, “Retirement is a personal choice of the athlete and EFI doesn’t need to comment on it. If you talk about the coach leasing out his horse to someone else, it is a matter between the coach and the rider and the federation has no say in it,” Khokhar said.
“As long as the audio clip is concerned, everything I said was in a personal capacity. Neither me nor EFI is at any fault in the entire episode,” he added.
www.hindustantimes.com
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