Young Achievers

Ranvir Nanda

If Bangalore-based Ranvir Nanda (21) is given the support and encouragement he deserves, he could storm the stylish and elegant international equestrian show jumping arena. This skilled horseman won three gold medals — show jumping, the one-day event, team and individual — in the young riders category in the recently (December 2005) concluded National Equestrian Championships staged at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club.

"The first time I sat astride a horse was on a Mumbai beach when I was five years old. It was a defining experience and since then I have become an unrepentant horse lover. But it was only when I went to Lawrence School Lovedale in 1996 that I was exposed to equestrian show jumping," recalls Nanda, a final year B.Sc student of Bangalore’s St. Joseph’s Arts and Science College.

Nanda acknowledges that most of his equestrian expertise and show jumping skills were developed in Lawrence School, where he was encouraged to participate in competitions. He started competing in 1998 and since has won several state and national show jumping events. His first international break came in 2004 at CSIY International Young Riders Championship in Pune, where he won a bronze in the individual show jumping event.

According to Nanda nurturing a horse with a good bloodline specially trained for show jumping and dressage (horse dancing), is a vital prerequisite of success in competitive equestrian sports. "Unfortunately in India horses are bred solely for racing and only retired racehorses are available for show jumping and dressage. This is perhaps the main reason why India has never won an Olympic or Asian games medal in this event," he says.

Currently Nanda trains at the Princess Riding Academy, Bangalore on only one horse — Royal Flame — which he also owns, unlike his competitors from the armed forces who have different horses for practice. Unsurprisingly Nanda, who is also training for a career as a commercial pilot, packs in a hectic daily schedule. "Equestrian sports is expensive — to maintain one horse it costs me Rs.150,000 per annum," he reveals.

But Nanda believes the hectic daily schedule and expense will be worthwhile if he bags India’s first equestrian Olympic gold. "I am confident I can win a medal at the Asian Games this year if I have three or four horses to practice with," he says, and hopes to buy two more horses later this year with his sights firmly set on the Beijing Olympics, 2008.

Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)

Jaya Sharma

Her power-packed drives are compared to Virender Sehwag’s while her agility in the field evokes memories of Jonty Rhodes. That’s Jaya Sharma — opening bat of the Indian women’s cricket team. Last year Sharma bagged several prestigious awards including the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Award for Woman Criacketer of the Year (2004) and is one of the few Indian women cricketers to have notched up 1,000 runs in one day internationals.

A true field games all-rounder, Sharma first shot into prominence as a foot- baller. Starting at age seven, while her friends played with dolls, Sharma played football with boys double her age. A brilliant student of Central School, Delhi and a commerce graduate, she was selected to represent Delhi University in the Women’s Federation Cup Football in 1993 and also represented her state (Delhi) in hockey. Simult-aneously she played cricket. Following the ‘best upcoming cricketer’ award in a summer tournament, Sharma was invited to a national training camp for women cricketers where she learned the finer points of the game.

Nevertheless she had to wait seven years before donning the Indian colours. She caught the eye of national selectors in 1999 while representing North zone in the Rani Jhansi tournament, where she accumulated 300 runs in five innings. Her call up for India soon followed and in 2001 Sharma made her debut against England in Chennai, with scores of 57 and 71 runs in her first two innings.

The year 2003 was a high point in her yet unfinished cricketing career. She was ranked second in the world rating of women cricketers following the India women’s cricket tour of Australia. In the series, Sharma played in four tests averaging 64 runs per innings. "It was a proud moment to be ranked among the best in the world," says Sharma, who is currently employed with Indian Railways.

Looking back on her years as a India player during which she has represented the country in 60 test matches and 11 ODIs, Sharma singles out her unbeaten innings of 96 in Aurangabad in 2003 against the then defending world champions New Zealand as her best ever knock which spearheaded a record nine-wicket win over the Kiwis. "It was that series which established India as a global front-rank team. We thrashed New Zealand 4-1 in the series," recalls Sharma who bagged the Woman of the Series Award averaging 65 runs. The following year when the West Indies toured India, she once again played a stellar role in India’s series win as the highest run-getter, averaging 56.