"Truly goosebumps riding at this magical location" - Anush Agarwalla ahead of his event in Paris Olympics 2024
Indian dressage rider Anush Agarwalla is amazed at witnessing the main arena at Château de Versailles in France during his training session. He will take part in the dressage individual event in the Paris Olympics 2024.
Interestingly, Anush Agarwalla will become the first Indian Olympic dressage rider when he takes the main arena in the individual event in Paris. In the previous Games, seven Indian equestrians participated but all in eventing.
The previous seven Indian eventing riders are Fouaad Mirza, who competed in Tokyo 2020, Imtiaaz Anees in Sydney 2000, Indirajit Lamba in Atlanta 1996, Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia (Moscow 1980), Hussain Singh (Moscow 1980), Mohammed Khan (Moscow 1980) and Darya Singh (Moscow 1980).
“WHAT A VENUE. First time in the main arena and wow! Truly goosebumps riding at this magical location. Caramello felt great and super relaxed,” he wrote on X.
Anush Agarwalla secured a bronze medal in the Asian Games 2023
In dressage, the horse and rider must stay within the area while performing a series of predetermined movements. Agarwalla bagged the Paris Olympics 2024 quota after performing exceptionally in four different FEI events, which were considered for the qualification.
He surpassed his close contender and fellow compatriot Shruti Vora with a better average after the Equestrian Federation of India calculated their recent performances.
It’s worth noting that Agarwalla clinched India’s first individual medal in dressage at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China with a bronze. Subsequently, he won a gold medal in the team event.
Notably, Anush secured the medals at the Asian Games on his horse Etro. On the other hand, he will compete on Sir Caramello Old at the Paris Olympics 2024 in the individual event.
Hailing from Kolkata, Agarwalla moved to Germany at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional dressage rider. Agarwalla was honored with the Arjuna Award by the President of India earlier this year in January.
Earlier in 2022, Anush Agarwalla participated in the World Equestrian Games, emerging as the first Indian dressage rider alongside Shruti Vora to compete at the Dressage World Championships.