Anush Agarwalla
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Sabi Hussain, February 22, 2024: The Times of India
New Delhi: At the Paris Olympics, India will create a first when a country’s rider will straddle an equine at the Château de Versailles, the venue for staging two disciplines — dressage and jumping. It will be the first time that an Indian rider will be participating in the dressage event in the Olympics.
Previously, seven Indian riders have competed at the Summer Games – Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammed Khan and Darya Singh (Moscow 1980), Indrajit Lamba (Atlanta 1996), Imtiaaz Anees (Sydney 2000) and Fouaad Mirza (Tokyo 2020) – but all in eventing disciplines.
India won its first Olympic quota in dressage through Anush Agarwalla based on his performances in four FEI events: Wroclaw, Poland (73.485%), Kronenberg, Netherlands (74.4%), Frankfurt, Germany (72.9%), and Mechelen, Belgium (74.2%).
The 24-year-old from Kolkata had scripted history last year too when he clinched the country’s first-ever individual dressage medal at the Asian Games, in Hangzhou. This was after he had guided the dressage quartet comprising Hriday Chheda, Divyakriti Singh, Sudipti Haj ela and himself to a historic team dressage gold.
For Paris, Agarwalla is the front runner to represent the country. But since the quota belongs to the country, two other dressage riders have also thrown their hats in the ring – Shruti Vohra and Major Jolly Ahluwalia. The federation will conduct a trial before sending the final entry by name to the organisers. The last date for selection June 24.
However, Agarwalla is confiden t about his chances of making the cut, having experienced success at the Asiad and in FEI-conducted events in Europe. “I am quite confident about going to Paris. Everybody had time until December 31st to secure a quota place for their respective nation. I have been successful in securing an Olympic berth for my country. I understand that the quota belongs to the country, and we (the other two riders as well) have time until June 24 to get the desired scores. Whoever has the highest score will go. Right now, I am ahead of others, so let’s see,” Agarwalla told TOI from Borchen in Germany, where he has been training for the last seven years under coach Hubertus Schmidt – a 2004 Olympics gold medallist and 2005 European Championships gold and silver medallist. Agarwalla has been on his own ever since he decided to shift to Germany as a 17-yearold to pursue equestrian.
“Living in a foreign country like Germany has its own set of challenges. When I moved here, I had to overcome a lot of challenges. I didn’t know the people and the language. I had to do a lot of household chores like cooking and cleaning on my own which I wasn’t used to doing in India. But these experiences have made me who I am today. I normally visit India for 10 days in a year during the month of Dec-Jan to be with my parents. The rest of the time is all about studying and training in Europe. I am currently in my last semester of bachelor’s degree in business economics,” he said.
Agarwalla informed that he has changed his horse from Etro, which he rode at the Asian Games, to Sir Caramello OLD for the Paris Games, which helped him achieve the qualification. “The reason I have changed my horse is because the level of Olympics i s not the same as the Asiad. It is at a much higher level. Anyways, my horse Etro required a break after the Asiad. He is on his way to the Grand Prix level. Sir Caramello has been with me for the last five years and we have had some great moments together like competing at the World Championships for the first time in dressage,” stated Agarwalla.
