National Equestrian C'ship: Top guns qualify for the next round of Dressage events

Mumbai, Feb 24 (IANS) Navyashree Sai, Maj D Apurva, Geethika Tikkisetty and Yashaan Khambatta are among nine riders that have qualified for the next stage of the NEC Elementary Normal Dressage (Team) event in the National Equestrian Championship (NEC) preliminary held at the Amateur Riders' Club here on Friday.

The 17-year-old Navyashree, astride Abra ka Dabra, has a score of 65%, Capt Apurva, atop Yesaji, too has 65%, Geethika, atop Valentine, has 64% while Yashaan Khambatta, on Biscaya, has 64% as they close to the top spot.

An overall score of 70% or more for a dressage test is considered very good, and scores of 60-70% are considered good if a horse and rider are consistently scoring 60%+ indicating they may be ready to move onto the next level.

The levels include; Introduction, Novice, Elementary, Medium, Advanced Medium, Advanced, Prix St George, Intermediate I, Intermediate II, and Grand Prix. Each level is made up of several tests that you can work through, each test is unique within the same level sharing the same movements.

Khambatta, Navyashree Sai, and Raju Singh are among the top performers today. Equestrians from Bhopal, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Bangalore participated in this competition.

Others who have made the second stage in the Elementary Normal Dressage Col. Arpit Rathi (Arce/63%), Anand Jhala (Kenwood/61%), Capt Yashdeep Ahlawat (Magnus/62%), DFR Sumer Singh (Varj/64%), Major Kunal Malik (Jai/61%).

Five riders -- DFR Pradeep Kumar (Happy/64), Raju Singh (Maatakali/65%), Faraz Khan (Armicassini/62%), Aadya Rao (Expo/61%), Maj D Apurva (Kanoji/62%) -- have qualified for the NEC Medium Normal Dressage (Team) event.

Raju Singh (Rocketer/62%) and DFR Girdhdhari Singh (Chetak/60%) have qualified for the NEC Medium Advanced Dressage (Team) event.