Overcoming restrictions on travel by Indian horse: How 19-year-old Niharika Singhania became the only Indian showjumper at the 2026 Asian Games

NEW DELHI: The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for 19-year-old rider Niharika Singhania. She secured a Merit 4 alongside her horse First to Cash Out and booked her ticket to Japan for the 2026 Asian Games. And as recently confirmed by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), Niharika will enter this year’s Asiad as the only woman in the Indian show jumping team.The selection of the Asian Games was no surprise for the teenager. Niharika, daughter of businessman Gautam Singhania and Nawaz Modi Singhania, has put together a string of strong international performances, including winning a gold medal at the Azelhof CSI Lier in Belgium in April 2025.However, despite her international origins, her journey to Aichi-Nagoya was anything but smooth sailing.

Road to the Asian Games

Winning a place at the Asian Games was as much logistical as sporting. Especially for Indian riders, the path to qualification is complicated by international regulations.As India-based horses cannot be shipped directly to Japan under existing export protocols, the athletes had to place their horses in Europe, compete in qualifying events between November 2025 and June 2026, and prepare for the Games from there.“It was definitely a lot of ups and downs,” Niharika told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interaction. “We’ve had a lot of balls thrown at us. I think our criteria was also updated very, very close to the deadline. So we’ve all been running around trying to figure out how to adapt to this new framework.”

Niharika Singhania is only 19 (special arrangement)

The ultimate test of resilience came when her primary horse, Iron Lady, who had taught her the ropes of Europe, fell ill just weeks before the deadline.“A few weeks before the due date, she started feeling so good,” said Niharika. “Coincidentally, the horse I qualified with, Cash (First to Cash Out), came into the stables a week or two before. He was actually supposed to be a horse for next year to build up to the higher levels. . . . And then we started walking and I was like, ‘Wow, that horse is incredible’.” During the first weekend we decided, ‘Okay, I think this can be a horse for the Asian Games trials.’ So we tried it with him and it really worked.”

It all started with a school trip

Niharika’s love affair with sports began quite by accident at the age of 12 during a school trip. “Honestly, it wasn’t planned at all for me,” she revealed with a smile.“My school and I went to this camp in Pune and I just randomly fell in love with it there. I was like, ‘I love horses.’ All about it. I came back and just pestered my parents… ‘Please let me go!'”Her parents took her to the local race track. She trained for four years under Asian Games veteran Yashaan Khambatta, who is now her teammate for the 2026 Games.

For me personally, I spend a lot of time with them in the stables

Niharika Singhania

In an effort to push her boundaries further, Niharika moved to Europe two years ago to train under Belgian veteran Vincent Lambrecht.

Stop at eight

Today, Niharika has eight horses, six of which are based in Europe and two in Mumbai. But in show jumping, a rider is only as strong as the partnership they build with their horse.“There are 100 different ways to approach a horse,” she explained.“For me personally, I really like to spend a lot of time in the stables with them. I think that’s how you get to know them. If I have to read my book, I’ll go sit in the stables and read it. They just get used to you and get used to your energy and you have to get used to theirs.”“What’s really hard for me to get over is when the horses are sick… It hurts more than anything to see a horse suffer.”

Finding balance from the saddle

Balancing elite European training with rigorous academics was a daily tightrope walk.While completing her International Baccalaureate (IB), Niharika seamlessly combined heavy study sessions with a full day of stable duties, from cleaning buckets of water to tending to her tacks.“I wasn’t a perfect student at all, but I tried my best,” she laughed. Fortunately, she had the support of her parents who understood the mental sanctuary that riding provides.

Niharika Singhania riding one of her six horses (special arrangement)

“I was lucky that the conversation never came up, ‘Please stop riding until your boards are done.’ not at all For my mum in particular, it was that if you study for exams for eight or nine hours a day, you deserve that one hour a day,” the teenager added. “She said, ‘Don’t sit there for five, six hours, but go for two hours, go for an hour, enjoy it and come back, and I think that will help.’With qualification officially secured, Niharika is now in the final stages of preparations for the September 2026 Games.“The main thing is to keep the horses in good condition and also to still love what they are doing,” he says. “Enough time for them to rest and then enough time for them to work to keep them in better shape. We have to work a little bit back from the Asian Games to make sure they peak at that time.”Looking beyond Aichi-Nagoya, Niharika refuses to put a cap on her ambitions. “My idea with sports and horses is always from the beginning: let me push it as far as I can and see what’s possible,” she smiled. “We’ll take it one step at a time and see how far I can go.”