Anush Agarwalla adds individual dressage bronze to India’s team gold

HANGZHOU: Anush Agarwalla first sat on a horse when he was three. His parents took him to the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata in what were routine weekend joy rides. Soon, those joy rides turned into a passion and, on Thursday, the 24-year-old scripted history for Indian equestrian by clinching the country’s first-ever individual dressage medal at the Asian Games here.

The victory tasted all the sweeter as Anush was part of the Indian dressage team comprising Hriday Chheda, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela which won the historic team dressage gold medal earlier this week. “It feels so amazing. Six years of hard work has gone into this. I know how much my family and I have sacrificed during this period. It’s been a difficult journey, lots of ups and downs, but it was worth it. If anyone asked me if I wanted to do it again, I would say, ‘of course, yes’,” Anush said after his win.

In the final, Anush, astride Etro, totalled 73.0303 — 69.900 in the technical segment and 76.160 in artistic — to finish third competing in the final intermediate 1 freestyle section of dressage. Malaysia’s Qabil Ambak won the gold averaging 75.780 while Jacqueline Wing Ying Siu of Hong Kong took home silver with 73.450 at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre.

Hriday, who had topped the intermediate 1 stage earlier in the day, was eliminated in the final qualification round for the medals. Divyakriti and Sudipti, too, failed to make the cut for the final.

Anush said he always knew that the medal was his. “To be honest, I knew it. I did not know what medal it would be, but when I woke up this morning I sent my mum a text – ‘Today we will get something. I know it for sure’. I know I have worked hard enough. I know I am good enough... and then it all worked out.”

“After the win, I facetimed my mother directly. She was in the stands, so she saw me live. It’s amazing to have your whole family here,” he added.

For the Asiad, Anush trained in Borchen in Germany under coach Hubertus Schmidt – a 2004 Olympics gold medallist and 2005 European Championships gold and silver medallist – and groom Alison Helen McIvor. He had shifted to Europe in 2017 to pursue his dreams of representing the nation at major multisport events.

“The first few months in Germany were very difficult for me as it was a big change from living a sheltered life in India to living alone in a foreign land. Not knowing the local language made it even more difficult since most people didn’t speak English much. I also received a lot of criticism from friends and relatives in India that I was wasting my life and I should be concentrating on my studies. It was quite toiling to juggle studies and training, but I was determined to make it work. Special mention for Mrs Doris Schmidt, wife of my trainer Schmidt, who was ever so caring and supportive in this difficult period,” he said.