It was a day to celebrate for India’s equestrian fraternity as the quartet of Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriti Singh, Vipul Hriday Chheda and Anush Agarwalla bagged the country’s first-ever Asian Games dressage gold. It was also only the second medal at the Games in dressage for India.
The Indians aggregated 209.205 percentage points, leaving behind China (204.882 %) and Hong Kong (204.852%) to stand atop the podium.
The last time equestrianism had contributed to India’s Asian Games tally was in 1986, when the country won a dressage bronze.
In the 1982 edition in New Delhi, the Indian team had grabbed three gold medals, in eventing and tent pegging competitions.
The word dressage comes from the French word ‘dresseur’, which means training, and the sport involves showing off a horse’s training by performing a set of prescribed movements in front of a panel of judges.
Each rider gets an overall score and from there, a percentage is worked out. The rider with the highest percentage is the winner of his class.
The top three scorers in a team are counted to determine the winner.
Of the winning quartet on Tuesday, 23-year-old Anush is a Calcuttan and La Martiniere for Boys alumnus.
“Anush started training at the Tollygunge Club but we realised his passion for the sport when he started going to New Delhi every weekend from the age of 10 to 17 to train,” Priti Agarwalla, Anush’s mother, told The Telegraph from Hangzhou.
“It was then that we shifted him from La Martiniere to Sri Ram School in Aravalli from where he got an opportunity to train in Germany under Hubertus Schmidt, an Olympic gold medallist.
“Thus at the age of 17, Anush shifted to Borchen in Germany where he stayed all throughout the Covid-19 time and didn’t come back home.”
The quartet trained separately in different stables and under different trainers but they have been meeting for the shows as the qualifiers are the same for everyone.
Calcutta boy Anush Agarwalla with his horse Etro, in a picture shared on Instagram
Anush, whose horse is named Etro, said after the win: “All of us stuck together, shouting and supporting each other. I was the last to go in the competition and after a few riders after me, we realised that Team India had won gold. That was a very emotional moment.”
“The national anthem was playing and the national flag was flying, there was no better feeling than that. It was all we had worked for and we realised our dream. The first gold medal for India in dressage.
“I did not have the normal life of a teenager because I was busy training. During Diwali and Holi, I was alone. The motivation was the goal of winning for India. But it is all worth it now,” he added.
The 21-year-old Sudipti, the youngest of the quartet, said: “It is unbelievable to win a gold here. It is not an easy journey for any of us. All of us have gone to Europe at a young age.
“We have made a lot of sacrifices,” Sudipti, who currently trains at Pamfou in France, added.
Divyakriti, who rides Adrenalin Firfod and who too trains in Germany, said: “A big shout out to our horses also. We are nothing without them. It has been a long journey. None of us thought about winning gold but we gave our hundred per cent and we did it.”
The youngsters have surprised all and done the country proud.
Written with inputs from PTI
