BENGALURU, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Elena Micheli is "heartbroken" that horse riding will not be part of modern pentathlon beyond next year's Paris Olympics but the world champion told Reuters that obstacle racing was the way forward for the sport. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped the sport from its initial list for the 2028 Los Angeles Games but approved its inclusion last month after global governing body UIPM replaced horse riding with obstacle racing. "The idea that Paris will be the last edition with horse riding breaks my heart," Italian Micheli, the 2022 and 2023 individual world champion, told Reuters via email. "Obstacle racing has obviously been a useful substitution in economical, entertainment and timing terms, even if they're two different worlds. "Modern pentathlon has always been a sport of arrangements and changes," Micheli added.

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Persons: Elena Micheli, UIPM, Pierre de Coubertin, Joe Choong, Micheli, Yasser Hefny, Hefny, Shrivathsa Sridhar, Peter Rutherford Organizations: Reuters, Tokyo Games, Olympic Committee, Los Angeles Games, Games, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, France, Paris, Bengaluru