Rio in action at an FEI event in the Embassy International Riding School, Bengaluru in December 2020.
Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 9
Nagaland’s Kekhriesilie Rio has been ranked second in the world (Category A) in equestrian show jumping, as per the rankings for 2020 released by the Federation Equestrian International (FEI). At 20 years of age, Rio is the first from India to ever rank second in the FEI annual list.
Introduced to the sport at the tender age of 8, he went on to win several national medals, with his first major victory in show jumping coming in 2018 in the junior nationals in Kolkata. He is also the first from the north-east to have won a national equestrian event and is set to go international.
In December 2020, he won the FEI World Jumping Challenge 2020 (South Zone) in Category A in Bangalore, which set the stage for participating in the world finals scheduled this year. The FEI world show jumping challenge is held around the world every year, where the competition is divided into three categories, Category A, Category B and Category C.
In an interview to The Morung Express in December, Rio said that his goal is to compete at the 2022 Asian Games and the Olympics representing India.
