They jump for glory

Diya has always trained under her father, Dev Lahiri, who is a well known rider and trainer. Her colleagues from the Lawerence contingent are all praise for her.

Aiming to be a professional horse rider, Diya does not mind quitting her studies to devote herself to horse riding. She says, quot;My parents have given me a free hand to do what I want, but right now I am only thinking about my coming examinationsquot;.

Back at home, Diya practises about three hours a day after school. At Pune she finds the riding conditions just as good. Besides having their own horses brought all the way from Ooty for the championships was an additional help. For this young lady, the gifts of hard work have only started blossoming. But like most people her age, that is hardly enough.

The city is certainly doing itself proud with champion invitees from around the globe. The equestrian contingent from the United Kingdom consists of some of the best riding talent from across the continent. Corinne Collins, the number one, under-21 rider from Europe participated in the Show Jumping event on Sunday. Her team-mates included Jessica Russell, Rebecca Dearden, Nick Palmer and their coach Mike Florence.

The tall, taciturn rider hardly offers much comment. She doesn8217;t need to. Her past accolades speak for themselves. She is the winner of the Belgium Grand Prix for 1998 and judged the leading rider at the championships. All of 19 years, she has been intensively riding for the past 14 years and has won numerous championships back home.

When asked about her perception of the conditions in India, she replies, quot;The championships in India are well organised and the course layout is tough.quot; In fact the whole European contingent expressed their satisfaction with the course. Commented coach Florence, quot;This is our first time in Pune or even even India, but I think the Indians are going the right wayquot;.

Quite evident were the different methods of training and focus of the Europeans. Corinne and her teammates have their eyes focused only on Show Jumping. They believe that specialisation breeds better results.

Prem Prabhu, 17, was the gold medalist in the Junior National Equestrian Champion, Bangalore in 1998. He represents Lawrence School, Lovedale at the Junior National Equestrian Championship in Pune. A student of Std. 12, Prem devotes three hours daily for his training. He started riding when he was nine and has been participating in the National Championships since 1994.

When asked if he would continue riding after school, the answer was positive. But he wants to study business management for a career, if he can make it to a University abroad. quot;Being a national level horse rider,quot; says Prem, quot;would certainly be an added advantage for me in getting admission in a University abroadquot;.

Prem is a member of his school hockey and athletics team and plays at the inter-school level. Horse riding, of course, takes top priority for him.

The headmaster of the Lawrence School, Dev Lahiri, who is also the coach of the team says that the team is selected, not only on the basis of their riding excellence, but also on their academic performance. Thus ensuring that the school children get the best of both. The attachments Prem has with his horses is clearly evident when he says that, quot;the ground conditions at the Police Grounds are not suitable for the horses. It is too hard. And the maintenance facilities for the horses are not really commendable.quot; This, he says, could be fatal for the horses after every jump during the event.

All the way from Hong Kong is Tang Mei Chi, 18 years old, who has been taking horse riding lessons since she was 12 years of age. A spirited young girl, Chi is in India for the first time to participate in the International Junior Equestrian Championship.

Tang Mei Chi is a veteran of the Hong Kong FEI, an equestrian competition which has participants from other Asian countries. Chi has also won a number of local equestrian events in Hong Kong. She is a proud member of the British Horse Society Pony Club and the Hong Kong Equestrian Society and she has successfully passed the Riding and Road Safety test. She proudly displays the badges on her blazer signifying all her achievements.

Chi, a high school student, is keen on making a career in horse riding eventually.

Chi8217;s is quite happy with her cropped brown mare Mastana. quot;He has been very cooperative with me for my event,quot; she says, quot;and has not given me any trouble at all.quot; She had an all clear first round in Show Jumping at the equestrian championships in Pune but could not make it to the final top rankings in her event. She looks forward to coming back to India for more such competitions and she is not complaining about the ground conditions in Pune.