India’s Anush Agarwalla won the individual dressage bronze medal in equestrian at the Asian Games 2023 here on Thursday.
Anush became the first Indian equestrian to win the individual dressage medal at the Asian Games.
He had earlier teamed up 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.
India’s Chheda, who had topped Thursday’s intermediate 1 stage, was eliminated in the final freestyle round for the medals.
Divyakriti, who finished 11th in the intermediate 1 stage, did not make the cut for Thursday’s 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. UNI BDN
