Pakistan is set to compete in Asian Games eventing for the first time ever, with veteran rider Usman Khan and his horse Eden Du Veret now in Japan after clearing a gruelling 70-day quarantine process. The pair will represent the country at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, marking a breakthrough moment for Pakistani equestrian sport.

Khan qualified for the Asian Games on four separate occasions going back to 2014, but financial constraints kept him out of the previous three editions. This time, both horse and rider actually made it to the start line, and that alone is being treated as a landmark for the sport back home.

Background: A Long Road to Get Here

Eventing sits under the Olympic umbrella and combines three separate disciplines: dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. It’s widely considered one of the more demanding equestrian formats, testing a horse-and-rider pair on precision, nerve, and stamina all in the same competition.

Khan has been chasing this moment for over a decade. He first qualified for the Asian Games in 2014 and again in 2018, but couldn’t travel either time due to a lack of funding. He also became the first Pakistani equestrian to meet Olympic qualifying standards, riding a horse named Azad Kashmir toward Tokyo 2020, only for the horse to die before the Games took place.

A second qualifying bid ended even more painfully. While competing on a replacement horse, Kasheer, in Australia, the pair suffered a fall just short of the finish line. Kasheer died at the scene, and Khan was hospitalised with serious injuries that kept him out of action for months. He eventually returned to competition and qualified for Paris 2024, though he withdrew before those Games to give his current horse, Eden Du Veret, more time to mature.

Details: The Quarantine, The Flight, The Competition

Eden Du Veret, known in the stable as Mirage, had to clear one of the longest pre-export quarantine periods in Asian Games history before he was allowed to fly. The horse spent 60 days in approved-nation quarantine in France, followed by a further 10 days of pre-export quarantine in Germany, adding up to 70 days in total.

The pair flew out of Germany on September 14, bound for Japan. The Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games officially opened on September 19, though Khan’s discipline wasn’t among those selected to march in the opening ceremony. Sports including badminton, women’s cricket, fencing, kabaddi, and squash were the ones listed to take part in that event instead.

The equestrian eventing competition itself runs from September 20 to 23 at the JRA Equestrian Park in Tokyo, covering both team and individual events. Khan and Mirage go into the competition ranked as the No. 1 combination in the FEI Middle East and Africa region, a ranking built on a career that includes two gold, four silver, and one bronze medal at FEI-level events.

Quotes: What Usman Khan Had to Say

Speaking about the quarantine process before departure, Khan called it possibly the longest pre-export quarantine period recorded ahead of an Asian Games, adding that every test result on the horse came back negative. He described the final stretch before travel as a “72-hour final preparation plan” now fully underway.

His comments reflect just how much logistics, and not just riding ability, factor into getting a horse safely across international borders for a major competition. Getting an animal cleared through multiple countries’ health protocols is its own separate challenge  one that rarely makes headlines next to the actual competition, but can just as easily end a campaign before it starts.

Impact: What This Means for Pakistani Equestrian Sport

Pakistan sending a horse and rider to Asian Games eventing for the first time isn’t being treated as a minor footnote within the sport  people close to it are calling it a genuine breakthrough. Equestrian sport in the country has always struggled for funding, and Khan’s own career, three missed Asian Games and two dead horses along the way, makes that struggle fairly hard to argue with.

A strong showing in Tokyo could help build a case for more consistent backing going forward, both for Khan and for any future Pakistani riders hoping to follow the same path. The Asian Games remain the biggest multi-sport stage available to most Asian equestrians outside the Olympics itself, so results here tend to carry weight with sponsors and federations alike.

Conclusion: What Comes Next

With Mirage now safely in Japan and the quarantine process behind them, the focus shifts entirely to competition from September 20 onward. A podium finish would be Pakistan’s first equestrian medal at the Asian Games, though simply completing the event cleanly, given everything that’s gone wrong on the way here, would already count as a result worth noting.

Beyond Tokyo, the equestrian calendar moves toward the next edition in Doha in 2030, followed by Riyadh in 2034, with the 2038 host still undecided. For now, though, attention stays on Khan and Mirage, and whether Pakistan’s long-awaited Asian Games eventing debut ends with a result to match the effort it took to get there.

FAQs

Where will the 2026 Asian Games be held?

The 2026 Asian Games are being hosted in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, with events spread across venues in both cities and the wider Aichi prefecture. The Games opened on September 19, 2026, and bring together thousands of athletes from across the continent competing in dozens of sports, from mainstream events like athletics and swimming to less commonly covered disciplines such as equestrian eventing. This marks Japan’s third time hosting the Asian Games, after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994.

What is the Asian equestrian Championship?

Asian equestrian competition at this level isn’t a standalone championship in the way some sports run separate world or continental titles. It’s contested as part of the Asian Games itself, under the umbrella of the Olympic Council of Asia, and includes disciplines like dressage, show jumping, and eventing, the last of which is what Usman Khan and Eden Du Veret are competing in. Riders earn their place through international FEI qualifying events over the preceding years rather than a single dedicated Asian championship event.

Who will host the 2038 Asian Games?

No host has been confirmed yet for the 2038 Asian Games, with the decision still open at the Olympic Council of Asia level. Ahmedabad, India has formally submitted a bid and is currently seen as a serious contender, partly because the city is also chasing the 2036 Olympics and already has the 2030 Commonwealth Games locked in. South Korea’s joint Gwangju-Daegu bid and interest from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are also in the mix, though nothing has moved to a formal vote so far.