Cojuangco, 61st Cavalry come up trumps

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 6. Danielle Cojuangco, (16) from the Philippines, and the 61st Cavalry team, spearheaded by Capt. N.S. Sandhu, came up trumps in the international individual show jumping competition for junior riders and the Tent Pegging team event respectively, at the Officers Training Academy on Saturday.

For the Philippines, the win of Danielle, her maiden international title, was all the more gladdening because it was only on Friday that they failed to qualify for the second round in the team event of the show jumping competition. ``It was disappointing to have lost in the first round but we are really happy and excited to have won the gold today,'' said Janine Santhos, the coach of the Philippines team.

However, it was a day when almost all the horses appeared jaded, hitting the obstacle quite frequently. Mr. Kishore Futnani, the Managing Trustee of the Chennai Equestrian Academy attributed it to the horses being tired after running without any rest for the last one week.

Michael Lucas on `Shahenahah' topped the first round clearing the fence in 89.72s, followed by A. Ajay on Milton, Sundaram on Spitfire and Cojuangco on `Rebar' all incurring four faults each. Sixteen out of the twenty one who participated, qualified for the second round/reverse round.

Nadali Bozghani on `Maharaja' made a headstart in the reverse round clearing the obstacle but the seven points he had lost on time penalties in the first round did not help him. A. Ajay on Milton too did well in the first round incurring only four faults, but he messed it up in the reverse round after `Milton' tumbled over the fence in the reverse round. But Danielle on `Rebar', made it a memorable day for Philippines, clearing the crucial reverse round, after incurring four faults in the first. Nadali Bozghani of Iran on `Maharaja' took the second place while Michael Lucas of Australia on `Shahenahah' came third.

In the CHS Tent Pegging team event, 61st Cavalry, spearheaded by Capt. N.S. Sandhu, Mohd. Younis, Shabbir Ali and Shaitan Singh won a spirited battle against the amateur team of South India Tigers represented by Ashok Sharma, Abhiram, Dhruv Futnani and Satvir Singh in the play off after both of them finished with 31 points each in the normal three rounds. But in the play off 61st Cavalry team used all its experience to pip the younger team.

61st Cavalry claimed 13 points, while South India Tigers could muster only 11 points. ASC Centre (N) Gay and OTA finished third and fourth.

Mr. C. Narambunanthan, Deputy General Manager, United India Insurance, gave away the prizes.

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