Harpal Singh Bedi
Anush Agarwalla earned India its first-ever individual dressage medal -a bronze- in equestrian at Hangzhou, China on Thursday.
This was Anush ’s second medal at Hangzhou. He had earlier combined with Hriday Chheda, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela to win a historic team dressage gold medal – India’s first top finish in equestrian at the continental meet since 1982.
Competing in the final intermediate 1 freestyle section of dressage at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre, Anush and his horse Etro tallied an average score of 73.030 – 69.900 in the technical segment and 76.160 in artistic – to finish third in the standings.
Malaysian veteran Qabil Ambak won the gold medal with 75.780 while Jacqueline Wing Ying Siu of Hong Kong China took the silver with 73.450. Interestingly, it was Siu who won the gold in the event at Jakarta 2018 while Qabil Ambak had to settle for a silver.
Hriday Chheda, who had topped Thursday’s intermediate 1 stage, was eliminated in the final freestyle round for the medals.
Divyakriti Singh, who finished 11th in the intermediate 1 stage, did not make the cut for the medal round. Sudipti Hajela, meanwhile, was eliminated in the intermediate 1 stage and did not make the freestyle segment.
Anush ’s bronze on Thursday was India’s 17th medal in equestrian at the Asian Games but the first-ever in individual dressage.