HORSEPOWER 209.205: Dressage team creates history, wins first equestrian gold since 1982

Hangzhou, September 26

India’s dressage team cantered to its first-ever Asian Games gold and only second medal in this discipline in the history of the sport with the quartet of Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriti Singh, Vipul Hriday Chheda and Anush Agarwalla living up to expectations here today.

The Indian quartet was performing well in the selection trials as their scores either matched or were better than the Asian Games medal winners from the previous editions.

It was more about the colour of the medal they would win and grabbed the top place on the podium by aggregating 209.205 percentage points, leaving behind China (204.882%) and Hong Kong (204.852%).

The last time equestrian 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.

Raghubir Singh had won gold in the individual eventing in 1982 and then added another gold in team eventing alongside Ghulam Mohammed Khan, Bishal Singh and Milkha Singh.

Rupinder Singh Brar won the third gold medal in individual tent pegging.

In dressage, the horse and rider are judged on how they perform a series of movements. Each movement is marked out of 10 (from 0 to 10). 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. Top three scorers in a team are counted to determine the winner. It was a long and difficult journey for the Indian team which has an interesting mixture of riders.

All of them left home at a young age and have been training in Europe separately for the last few years away from their family.

They took part in the Asian Games selection trials organised in Europe by the Equestrian Federation of India.

Their horses were quarantined in Aachen in Germany for seven days under strict rules before they were brought to China on September 21.

“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,” said the 21-year-old Sudipti, the youngest of the quartet. “We have worked hard for many years away from our families. We have made a lot of sacrifices,” the Indore-based Sudipti added.

“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, finally we realised that Team India has won gold. That was a very emotional moment,” said the 23-year-old Anush, who left his home in Kolkata in 2017 to train in Europe.

1 This was India’s first gold in 41 years at the equestrian event and first-ever gold in dressage

2 It was also India’s second medal in dressage of any colour since 1886

“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,” he added. For Divyakriti, who is hailing from Jaipur, the achievement was also due to their horses. “A big shout out to our horses also. We are nothing without them,” she said. “It has been a long journey and not an easy one. None of us thought it (to win gold) but we gave our hundred per cent and we did it,” she added.

Know the riders?

Anush Agarwalla

HE hails from Kolkata and is currently based in Borchen in Germany. He developed his passion for horse riding after his parents took him to a club in Kolkata. He became the first male dressage rider from India to compete at the World Championships at the 2022 edition in Herning, Denmark. His horse’s name is Etro.

Sudipti Hajela

Currently trains at Pamfou in France. She began horse riding at the age of six as a hobby but later took it seriously as a sport on the insistence of her father. The name of her horse is Chinski.

Divyakriti Singh

Took to horse riding when she was in the seventh grade at the famous Mayo College Girls School in Ajmer. She was the equestrian captain of her school.

Vipul Hriday Chheda

Hailing from Mumbai, the 25-year-old Vipul, began horse riding at a young age. Interestingly, he built a top-class riding facility and began the first breeding programme for dressage horses in the country. He rides Chemxpro Emerald.

Sailors bag silver, bronze

India win two medals in sailing. 17-year-old Neha Thakur claims silver girl’s dinghy ILCA-4 event. Eabad Ali takes bronze men’s windsurfer RS:X event. Boxer Narender Berwal (+92kg) enters quarterfinals.

Fencer Bhavani loses in quarterfinals

Star Indian fencer Bhavani Devi’s impressive run at the Asian Games came to an end in the quarterfinals, suffering a 7-15 loss to local favourite Yaqi Shao in the women’s sabre individual category here today. One win shy from a maiden Asian Games medal, Bhavani managed three touches in the first period of the quarterfinals. But her Chinese opponent was superior. The 30-year-old beat all her five opponents to top the pool that gave her a bye to the pre-quarters. PTI

Live on Sony Sports

Indians in action

3×3 basketball

Men’s round-robin Pool C:

India vs Macao (12:10pm) Women’s round-robin Pool A: India vs China (4:55pm)

Artistic gymnastics

(12:30pm onwards)

Women’s all-round final

Pranati Nayak

Basketball

Women’s prelims Group A:

India vs Indonesia (5:30pm)

Boxing

Men’s 57kg last-16: Shiva Thapa (1:15pm); Men’s 92kg last-16: Sanjeet (1:30pm); Women’s 50kg last-16: Nikhat Zareen (5:15pm)

Chess

(12:30pm onwards)

Men’s and women’s individual Rounds 8 and 9

Equestrian

(5:30am onwards)

Dressage individual

Hriday Chheda, Anush Agarwalla, Divyakriti Singh, Sudipti Hajela

Esports

(11:30am onwards)

League of Legends quarters: India vs Vietnam

Fencing

Men’s team foil: Arjun, Dev, Bibish Kathiresan, Akash Kumar (6:30am onwards); Women’s team epee: Ena Arora, Jyotika Dutta, Yashkeerat Kaur, Tanishka Khatri (10:30am onwards)

Handball

Women’s prelims Group B:

India vs Hong Kong (4:30pm)

Hockey

Women’s Pool A:

India vs Singapore (10:15am)

Sailing

(8:30am onwards)

Shooting

(6:30am onwards)

Men’s and women’s skeet qualification; Women’s 25m pistol rapid and 50m rifle 3 positions qualifying, team medals and individual finals

Squash

Men’s team Pool A: India vs Kuwait (7:30am); India vs Pakistan (4:30pm);

Women’s team Pool B: India vs Nepal (7:30am); India vs Macao (2pm)

Swimming

(7:30am onwards)

Table tennis

(1:30pm onwards)

Men’s doubles Rd of 64;

Mixed doubles Rd of 32

Tennis

(7:30am onwards)

Wushu

(6:30am onwards)