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Anush Agarwalla was chosen ahead of Shruti Vora after an assessment of their recent performances.
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Anush Agarwalla will represent India in the dressage event at the Paris Olympics after edging out Shruti Vora with a better average, the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) announced on Tuesday.
Agarwalla, who won a gold medal in team dressage and a bronze medal in individual dressage at the 2022 Asian Games, was chosen ahead of Vora after an assessment of the two contenders’ recent performances.
This will be India’s first-ever appearance in the dressage event at the Olympics, with riders having only competed in the eventing categories in previous editions.
Agarwalla (with his horse Sir Caramello Old) has been consistent since the start of the qualifying period last year and has met the minimum eligibility requirements on four occasions, while veteran Vora has achieved the two required MERs this month -this.
When an average was established among the contenders, Agarwalla emerged victorious. He achieved an average score of 67.695 percent, better than Vora’s (67.163 percent).
“According to the criteria set by the EFI, a rider-horse pair must achieve a minimum of 67 percent on two occasions between January 1, 2023 and June 24, 2024 to be eligible for qualification for the Paris Games,” said the federation in a press release. release.
“According to the EFI selection criteria, if more than one athlete is eligible, then the athlete with the highest Grand Prix average from the top four events of the past year will be chosen to participate.”
Vora (with the horse Magnanimous) had achieved her second MER of the year by finishing second at the Brno Grand Prix in the Czech Republic, where she scored 68.174 in the dressage test, thus becoming eligible for the Olympics .
Vora had secured her first MER earlier this month when she became the first Indian rider to win a three-star Grand Prix, the Dressage World Cup, held in Lipica, Slovenia, with 67.761.
His other two GP performances had scores of 66.543 percent and 66.174 percent, below MER level.
Agarwalla has achieved the MER four times: 67.936 percent (Wiesbaden, May 2024), 68.261 percent (December 2023 in Mechelen), 67.152 percent (December 2023 in Frankfurt) and 67.804 percent (October 2023 in Wroclaw).
Fouaad Mirza had represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Before him, Imtiaz Anees participated in the 2000 Sydney Games, while Indrajit Lamba participated in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammed Khan and Darya Singh had all participated in the 1980 Moscow Games.
