Equestrian Federation of India sends Anush Agarwalla's entry to IOA for Paris 2024 Olympics

The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) has officially sent the dressage rider Anush Agarwalla’s entry to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for his participation at the forthcoming Paris Olympics 2024. The Games are scheduled to start on July 26 and conclude on August 11.

Recently, the Delhi High Court upheld EFI’s selection criteria after being challenged by another contender Shruti Vora. She had filed a plea to put aside the apex body's selection criteria for the Summer Games in Paris.

However, the court cleared Anush Agarwalla’s participation by upholding EFI’s current selection criteria.

According to the selection criteria set by the Equestrian Federation of India, if multiple riders meet the criterion, the athlete with the highest average in the Grand Prix out of the best four events in the past 12 months shall be chosen to participate. Statistically speaking, Anush averaged 0.532 points more than Vora.

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Equestrian Federation of India to have its AGM on July 21

Furthermore, the federation is set to have its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) on July 21 despite a few members of the court's re-instated Executive Council having expressed concerns about the meeting.

The Executive Council members are expected to meet on Friday, July 12. This will be the first meeting after the Delhi HC’s order re-instated the council to maintain the status quo.

“The EFI has sent Anush’s entry, after the court ruled in its favour. The EFI did not expect that the court order will be challenged further,” a member of the EC said (via Deccan Herald).

“The AGM notice has also been put on the website. Not everyone is in favour of the AGM because the audited accounts have not been presented before the EC and the agenda of the AGM has also not been approved by the EC,” the member added.

An EFI official went on to say holding an AGM will be crucial and has been mandated by the Sports Code since the budget for the next year has to be finalized.

As per the data available on the Equestrian Federation of India's official website, the federation had spent close to INR 4 Crore in 2023-24 while the proposed budget for 2024-25 is expected to be INR 5 Crore 77 lakh.

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