India’s Hriday Chheda, Anush Agarwalla, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela combined to win the equestrian team dressage gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China, on Tuesday.
The gold ended a 41-year long wait for India, who had dominated equestrian event at made its maiden appearance at the Asian Games in 1982. But the long wait was finally over on Tuesday at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre.
All four Indian equestrians put on impressive performances. Anush Agarwalla, riding his horse Etro, was the pick of the lot, scoring 71.088. Hriday Chheda, mounted on Chemxpro Emerald, followed with 69.941 while Divyakriti Singh and her horse Adrenalin Firfod were awarded 68.176. Sudipti Hajela, with horse Chinski, contributed 66.706.
The best three scores were added up for India’s team total, which came up to 209.205 (Anush Agarwalla - 71.088; Hriday Chheda - 69.941; Divyakriti Singh - 68.176).
The Chinese team of Huang Zhuoqin (68.176), Rao Jiayi (69.265) and Lan Chao (67.441) secured the dressage team silver with a combined score of 204.882. Hong Kong China’s Chan Samantha Grace (65.353), Ho Yuen Yan Annie (68.323) and Siu Jacqueline Wing Ying (71.176) took the bronze with a total score of 204.852.
As per the individual rankings, Anush Agarwalla and Hriday Chheda were the second and third-best scorers of the day behind Siu Jacqueline Wing Ying. All four Indian equestrian riders will be in action in the individual dressage event today.
“It has been a very long journey but everything came together with this team. None of us were able to believe it at that moment but we gave our 100 percent and then when you see the Tiranga going up, that is the biggest motivation,” Sudipti, the youngest at 21, chirped in.
This was India’s third gold medal at Hangzhou 2023. The women’s cricket team and men’s 10m air rifle team of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Divyansh Singh Panwar accounted for the other two.
Before Tuesday’s dressage team gold, India had won three gold medals, three silver medals and six bronze medals in equestrian at the Asian Games. All three gold medals came at Delhi 1982. Raghubir Singh, who was crowned champion in individual eventing in that edition, also won a gold in team eventing alongside Ghulam Mohamed Khan, Bishal Singh and Milkha Singh. Rupinder Singh Brar won the gold medal in individual tent pegging, a category which featured at the continental games only in that edition.