ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Melbourne-based equestrian Usman Khan will be looking to retain his hard-earned Tokyo Olympics spot by obtaining Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) at this week’s qualification round in Sydney.

The Sydney International Three Day Event (Sydney3de), which is Australia’s oldest event, commences on Friday at the International Equestrian Centre, Horsley Park Sydney, New South Wales.

“I’ll be trying my best to meet the MER. But right now I can’t comment until it ends [qualifying round]. I need my nation’s prayers,” the Lahore-born Usman told APP over phone from Sydney.

The 39-year-old shot to stardom when he secured an individual Olympics quota in Eventing in December 2019, becoming the first Pakistani in the country’s 73-year history to do so. Prior to him, Nadeem Noon (1965-2015) won a place in the 2004 Athens Olympics via wild card, but he remained unable to feature in the event as his horse had got injured.

But after making a cut to the world’s biggest sports quadrennial extravaganza, Usman met with myriad challenges. His 13-year-old New Zealand thoroughbred horse, which he named Azad Kashmir died of a severe heart attack in September last year, jeopardising the eventers 15-year odyssey for the coveted event.

Then, he attended a qualification round in Sydney in February this year where at one stage he was fourth after clear showjumping but tumbled to seventh place due to a slow cross-country show as both he and his new horse got injured. “We had got injured in the process, putting blood and sweat literally,” Usman recalled.

Last month, Usman was compelled to withdraw from a qualifying round in Wallaby Hill, NSW, as his horse suffered from high temperature. “That very badly affected our score in the first step in dressage on the inaugural day of the three-day event,” he said.

Usman is once again gunning for the Olympics place because it is necessary for an equestrian to also make his horse qualify for the event.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2021