An injury to his preferred horse has jeopardised Fouaad Mirza's qualification chances for the Tokyo Games but the double Asian Games silver medallist is confident of making the cut for the Olympics in the equestrian event.
Mirza, 27, shot to fame when he became the first Indian since 1982 to win an Asian Games individual medal in equestrian besides guiding the country to a second-place finish in the team competition in Jakarta last year.
And Mirza has now set his eyes on qualifying for the Tokyo Games but will miss the services of his main horse, Seigneur Medicott for the entire year.
"Unfortunately, my main horse Seigneur Medicott that helped me win the two silvers at the Asian Games sustained an injury this year. So he is out for the entire season which is a huge blow," Mirza told PTI here on Wednesday.
"I had ups and downs. Losing this horse is a huge blow. Our sport is very difficult when you lose a good horse it makes things even harder. Having said that I have two younger horses capable of qualifying, capable of doing the job.
"With the new horses I am confident of qualifying for the Olympics, but it's not going to be easy with them," he added.
In equestrian, qualification for the Olympics is based on an elaborate ranking system. A rider-horse duo has to collect points from four star level competitions and above throughout the year and at the end of the window -- Janauary 2019 to December 2019, these points will be calculated to compile the world rankings.
Mirza still has five more events to book his Olympic ticket.
The silver medals in individual and team eventing at the 2018 Asian Games has also earned Mirza the prestigious Arjuna award this year.
Asked Mirza about the recognition, he said, "It's an amazing feeling. I can't describe how happy I am to think of receiving the award from Hon'ble President of India. It means a lot to me, especially because it's not very often that equestrian athletes receive this award. There have been in the past but it's been a long time."
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