Equestrian: Anush Agarwalla bows out of Paris Olympics
Jul 31, 2024
Paris [France], July 31 : After making history for India, Anush Agarwalla's campaign in the Paris Olympics ended after he failed to qualify for the final in the individual dressage event on Wednesday at the Chateau de Versailles.
Agarwalla and his horse, Sir Caramello Old, finished ninth in Group E with a score of 68.444.
Denmark's Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour finished at the top with a score of 80.792. Germany's Isabel Werth secured the second spot with a score of 79.363.
Great Britain's Charlotte finished third with a score of 78.913 points, and Norway's Isabel settled for the fourth spot with a score of 76.397 points.
The top two athletes from each group and the six athletes with the next best scores (including ties) qualified for the individual final.
Despite returning empty-handed, Agarwalla became the first Indian to complete a routine in the dressage event at the Summer Olympic Games.
He also joined the iconic list of athletes who represented India in equestrian at the Olympics. Fouaad Mirza had represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Before him, Imtiaz Anees competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, while Indrajit Lamba took the field in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammed Khan and Darya Singh had all competed at the 1980 Moscow Games.
The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) had picked Anush Agarwalla to represent the country in the ongoing Paris Games. He beat close contender Shruti Vora on a better average after a careful evaluation of the recent performances of the contenders.
Agarwalla has been consistent since the qualification period began last year and achieved the Minimum Eligibility Requirement four times, while veteran Shruti Vora earned the required two MERs this month.
When an average was taken out of the contenders in the assessment, Anush emerged as the winner. He had an average score of 67.695 per cent which was better than Shruti's 67.163 per cent.
