IMAGE: Anush Agarwalla of India riding Sir Caramello Old in action. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra / Reuters
Asian Games medallist Anush Agarwalla crashed out of the Equestrian event, finishing a below-par ninth in his group in the individual dressage category at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Agarwalla, who won a gold and a bronze medal in team and individual dressage events in 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, scored a below-par 66.444 with his partner Sir Caramello Old but that was not enough to ensure him a place in the medal round.
Agarwalla, astride Sir Caramello Old, finished ninth in Group E in the dressage Grand Prix Individual Qualifier round of the Games.
The ninth-place finish in his group meant, 24-year-old Agarwalla, who has been training in Germany since he was 17, was eliminated from the competition in the very first stage.
But it was still a good enough achievement as Agarwalla became the first Indian equestrian to compete in dressage at the Olympics after achieving the Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) four times to obtain a quota for the country.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour of Denmark topped Group E with a score of 80.792 while Germany’s Isabell Wirth finished second
