DIVYAKRITI SINGH RATHORE GALLOPS TO GREATNESS

RANKED ASIA NUMBER ONE IN DRESSAGE AND WORLD NUMBER 14, MEET THE ARJUNA-AWARDEE, ASIAN GAMES CHAMPION AND INDIA'S OLYMPIC HOPEFUL. AT HER FAMILY'S PALACE HOTEL NEAR JAIPUR, SHE OPENS UP ABOUT HER SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HER HORSES, HER LIFE IN GERMANY AT A TOP DRESSAGE SCHOOL AND HER HOPES FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE

- PRIYA KUMARI RANA

She’s back home at her family’s sprawling ancestral property — the 450-year-old Mundota Palace near Jaipur, perched on a hill overlooking the Aravallis — if only for a few days, but it’s a moment to be savoured. Just like the home-cooked Rajasthani meals she loves so much, and misses while she’s living and training in Germany. Asian Games dressage champion, golden girl Divyakriti Singh Rathore holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to have been honoured with an Arjuna Award for her achievements in equestrian sports. Basking in the glow of her new-found fame, she’s just about getting used to the accolades, as she hones her talent for competitions ahead.

At this special HELLO! shoot with her horses in the courtyard of the Mundota Palace (the bagh-e-inayat of what is now a heritage hotel, once a horse stable) as the backdrop, later at the baradari (the restaurant), and in the diwan-e-khas (the meeting room), Divyakriti, who’s all of 23, and has returned to India after winning three medals at the Saudi Equestrian Federation Cup in Riyadh, is on a well-earned break.

As she poses in colourful block-print dresses that are the hallmark of the PDKF (Princess Diya Kumari Foundation) fashion brand, it’s a refreshing change from her breeches, riding shirt and blazer combo that she’s been donning for the last two years, immersed, as it were, in the world of equestrian dressage.

With an Asian Games gold in the team event in Equestrian Dressage in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, she’s back to where it all started, in her family estate, where she grew up surrounded by horses.