“It’s not been an easy journey,” Anush Agarwalla talks about their quest to CLINCH gold in Equestrian for first time in 41 years
India celebrates its first Equestrian gold medal in 41 years, as players talk about their dreams and journey to get to the highest point.
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Indian Equestrian team wins gold [Image Credit: India Today NE]
Indian team’s battle to stand at the top of the podium ends with the team clinching the gold medal for the first time in 41 years. The last time the team won gold was in 1982 at the Asian Games when the Indian quartet was not even born.
The four stars Anush Agarwalla, Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriti Singh, and Hriday Chheda struggled hard to find words to describe the golden moment. Despite the competition lasting for 10 hours, with a crowd of talented athletes participating across Asia, Hajela noted, “it feels surreal.”
The team registered a huge score of 209.205 as the crowd was awed at their performance at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre on Tuesday. Anush snatched first place with a score of 71.088 with his partner Etro. He described the team’s journey as not an easy one, as they had to stay far away from their loved ones to attain the gold medal.
“It’s not been an easy journey”, Anush quoted. The athlete noted that in the end, all was worth it as they saw other players looking at the Indian flag with respect as it was hung high. “It was an incredibly emotional moment, especially when the team anthem played, and everyone stood in solemn respect.”
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PM Modi congratulated Team India for winning gold in Equestrian
![PM Modi congratulates Indian Equestrian team [Image Credit: Indian Express/News 18]](https://firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Untitled-design-12-6.png)
Following Tuesday’s win, PM Narendra Modi congratulated Team India on Twitter, stating “It is a matter of extreme pride that after several decades, our Equestrian Dressage Team has won Gold in Asian Games!” Twitter erupted in further congratulatory messages from fans, as the country echoed a cheerful tone throughout the night.
Apart from the standout performance from Anush, the rest of the team performed excellently. Sudipti Hajela who stated that “it has been a very long journey” accumulated a record of 66.706 with her 2-year companion Chinski. She stated that none of them at that moment could believe what happened on the field as cheers surrounded the quartet.
Divyakriti Singh, on the other hand, recorded a score of 68.176 on her horse Adrenalin Firfod, and Hriday Chheda bettered it with 69.941 with his companion Chemxpro Emerald. During an interview, Anush Agarwalla stated that they didn’t even know each other prior game at Hangzhou.
What all of them had in common was “we realized all of us wanted to win” and “we were in it together.” As the celebrations continue, fans are looking forward to more performances and behind-the-scenes stories from the Asian Games 2023. All are excited to look at how the Indian team performs in the remainder of the event games.
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Kaushani Chatterjee
(2161 Articles Published)