India’s first equestrian to qualify for the Olympics in last two decades, Fouaad Mirza, astride his horse ‘Seigneur Medicott’, put on an exciting show on the first day of individual eventing at the Games here on Friday.

Fouaad sits on the 7th place with 28.00 penalties with 21 riders yet to compete. A total of 42 out of 63 riders participated on day 1 of the “Individual eventing dressage” round. The field is currently led by Oliver Townend on 23.6 penalties.

Dressage is the first of three phases in Individual eventing, the remaining two being Cross Country and Show Jumping. The lowest cumulative amount of penalties in all three phases decides the winners.

Disappointments

In archery, Deepika Kumari’s quest for an Olympic medal ended in heartbreak for the third time as she surrendered tamely to Korean top seed

An San, losing 0-6 in the quarter finals.

Shooters Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat too had a disappointing day, crashing out of the 25m pistol qualifications. Bhaker shot 290 in the rapid fire stage of the qualifications for a total of 582, while Sarnobat managed 573.

In athletics, Avinash Sable shattered his own 3000m steeplechase national record but failed to qualify for the final, while sprinter Dutee Chand, 400m hurdler MP Jabir and the mixed 4x400m relay team produced below-par performances and could not progress. Sable clocked 8:18.12 to better his own mark of 8:20.20.