India's top equestrian rider Chirag Khandal announces retirement at 20, blames EFI

In a blow to Indian equestrian sports, Chirag Khandal, the 20-year-old prodigy who is currently the best in the country, has announced his retirement from the sport. The rider is blaming the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), which is largely army-dominated and allegedly has a bias against civilians.

Speaking on the matter, a disheartened Chirag told TOI:

“Yes, I have decided to leave the equestrian sport. I am devastated and heartbroken. I am solely blaming the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) and its two officials – secretary general Col Jaiveer Singh and vice-president, finance, Harish Khokar, for my decision to immediately retire from sport. I can’t take this official apathy anymore. The EFI has shattered my dreams of representing India at the highest level"

Chirag Khandal became the youngest equestrian to qualify for the Asian Games when he completed the Minimum Eligibility Requirement in a competition in France. However, this time, his name was mysteriously missing from the list of athletes who had qualified for the games.

Desperate, Chirag and his family turned to the Supreme Court to ensure the rider could compete at the Hangzhou Games. The SC ruled in Khandal's favor, forcing the EFI to include his name on the list. However, this was not the end of the young rider's struggles.

The EFI clapped back by letting Chirag know that he was going to have to find a new horse for the Asiad. Moreover, the EFI made sure to send the email on May 20th, giving the equestrian only four hours to find the horse and obtain a no-objection certificate for it.

“It wasn’t possible in anybody’s wildest dreams to arrange a horse combination in hours. There were several things involved. Also, there is an audio recording which has been submitted with the Delhi high court in which Khokar could be heard using harsh and abusive language against Chirag and my family and making claims that my son won’t be allowed to compete in the Asiad at any cost,” Chirag Khandal’s father Sandeep claimed when speaking on the issue.

Equestrian Chirag Khandal to move onto greener pastures with a broken heart

Chirag Khandal is devastated over his unfair treatment

That email from EFI was the last straw for the equestrian. Chirag was left heartbroken after the EFI's lack of consideration towards his hard work, and a shortage of funding forced the 20-year-old to make the decision to retire.

"Despite qualifying for the Asian Games after attaining three MERs, I wasn’t named as part of the Indian contingent for the event. My father sold our ancestral property in Jaipur, my elder brother (Dhananjay Khandal) sold his favorite car and our family took a gold loan of Rs 12 lakh to fund my Asiad dreams. In the last 19 months, my family has ended up spending around 1.75 crore on my preparations in Europe. I can’t allow them to spend more money when they have been left with none. What’s the use of it when the EFI won’t ever allow me to compete because of their indifferent attitude towards me," Chirag Khandal said when explaining his decision.

After his retirement from equestrian sports, Chirag and his family have now moved back to their hometown Jaipur, where the rider has enrolled in St. Xavier's College to pursue his education.

While his decision has left Chirag Khandal and his family crestfallen, the retirement of a promising young talent in such situations has also cast a shadow on Indian equestrian sports.