“Competing in the Olympics has always been a childhood dream for me”- Equestrian Anush Agarwalla expresses delight on achieving Paris Olympic quota
Indian Equestrian Anush Agarwalla recently secured a Paris Olympics quota for the country in the dressage discipline.
Anush bagged the quota on the back of his impressive performances in the last four FEI events, namely Wroclaw, Poland (73.485%), Kronenberg, Netherlands (74.4%), Frankfurt, Germany (72.9%), and Mechelen, Belgium (74.2%).
Before him, Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammed Khan and Darya Singh (1980 Moscow), Indrajit Lamba (1996 Atlanta), Imtiaz Anees (2000 Sydney), and Fouaad Mirza (2022 Tokyo) had represented India at the Olympics in Equestrian sports. However, Anush Agarwalla is the first ever Indian to bag a quota in the dressage discipline.
"I am very proud and grateful to have been successful for securing a berth for India at the Paris Olympic Games. Competing in the Olympics has always been a childhood dream for me and I'm proud to be part of this historical moment for the nation," the 24-year-old Agarwalla told PTI.
With a Paris Olympics quota secured, the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) will now conduct a trial to pick who will represent the nation at the Summer Games in the dressage discipline.
"I will continue doing what I have always been doing: staying focused, being disciplined, working hard, setting goals and achieving them. I am confident that I will be selected to represent India at this prestigious stage," Agarwalla added.
Anush Agarwalla bagged Gold in Team Dressage event at the 2023 Asian Games
Anush Agarwalla wrote his name in the history books after bagging a Gold medal in the Team Dressage Event, along with teammates Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriti Singh, and Vipul Hriday Chheda, at the Asian Games 2023.
Just a couple of days later, Agarwalla won a bronze medal in the individual Dressage event.
"It is the dream of every athlete to see the national flag go up high in the sky, with the national anthem playing in front of thousands of spectators, so this moment was very memorable and emotional," the Kolkata-born star said in October last year (via Sputnik News).
Anush Agarwalla was born on November 23, 1999, in Kolkata, India. He started riding when he was just three years old and by the age of 17, he moved to Germany in a bid to follow his dream to become a professional dressage rider.