Equestrian Fouaad Mirza to compete with Dajara 4 in Tokyo Olympics 2020

Fouaad Mirza, India’s lone equestrian participant at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, has decided to compete with Dajara 4 horse in the quadrennial event.

The Bengaluru-based equestrian had the option of choosing one of his two horses – Dajara 4 or Seigneur Medicott. Although Seihneur Medicott is more experienced than Dajara 4, Fouaad Mirza chose the latter as the former is recuperating from an injury.

Read: I speak an unspoken language with my horse, says equestrian Fouaad Mirza ahead of Tokyo Olympics

Fouaad Mirza is the third Indian after Indrajit Lamba and Imtiaz Anees to compete at the Olympics. In a virtual interaction with Fouaad Mirza, he spoke about his preparations, his horse and more.

Following are the excerpts from his interaction.

On why he chose Dajara 4:

"The horse I have selected to represent India in Tokyo would be Dajara 4 and we are preparing well and we are keen to give a good performance out there in Tokyo. We are on the route of creating history and she is a horse that is going to help us get there and I am looking forward to participating in the Games with her."

"She (Dajara 4) is a very nice and pretty horse and I am sure she will bring this sport enough attention and hopefully encourage the younger generation to take up the sport."

Reasons for choosing Dajara 4:

"Look, it was a very, very difficult decision, I must say. Both horses are very good horses and I am very lucky to have them both. So, at the Olympics, we have two rounds of show-jumping after cross-country, this is probably Medicott’s weaker link and so, that was basically the main reason why we decided to take Dajara over Seigneur Medicott."

"It was very difficult (to choose Dajara4). Dajara is definitely now the right horse, so we want to go out there and give a very good performance."

On preparing for the Tokyo Olympics 2020:

"Dajara competed last weekend in the Nation’s Cup in Poland, where she finished second. She is going to have a week off now, just to recover from that competition and then we are going to pick her up gradually and not change too much."

"What would be slightly different is that both horses would go into quarantine on the 11th of July, that is at a different location, that is at Aachen in Germany... but over there we are allowed to use all the facilities as you would at home, so there are no restrictions on training times or where and how you can train."