India clinched its third Gold medal in the ongoing Asian Games in the equestrian dressage team event. This is the country's first gold in the event since the 1982 New Delhi Games when Raghubir Singh had won the individual gold. India trumped China and Hong Kong with 209.205 points and clinched the historic medal.
The team in the dressage competition included the likes of Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriit Singh, Hriday Chheda and Anush Agarwalla. While Sudipti rode with Chinski, Divyakriit had Adrenalin Firford to accompany her. Anush was with Etro while the game changer Hriday Chheda who turned the event on its head in the final race created history with Chemxpro Emerald.
As far as Sudipti is concerned, she is from Madhya Pradesh and has been riding the horse since she was only 10 and also won her first medal (Bronze) back in 2013 when she performed in a national show. Perhaps, she has so far won 52 national and 7 international medals so far. The tally has only increased with her latest heroics in the team event. Sudipti is also an MP Vikram Awardee.
Divyakriit Singh hails from Jaipur and is an alumnus of The Palace School, Jaipur and Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer. She had taken part in the selection trials in Europe. She underwent strenuous training and was also asked to compete against the best international talent. Divyakriit was selected after she did well in trials.
Hriday Chheda is only 25 years old and has been passionate about equestrian sports since the tender age of 6. He trained and got better at it in Europe under the mentorship of trainers like Hannes Baumgart and Olympian Emile Faurie who are renowned names in the sport. His companion Emerald who helped him clinch the historic gold in the Asian Games has been with him for around less than a year only.
The fourth and final member of the team Anush Agarwalla sat on a horse for the first time at the age of three. His mother enrolled him to get riding lessons when he was just 8 years old. He travelled to New Delhi for training at the age of 11 to pursue his equestrian dreams. His hard work has finally bore fruit as he and his team managed to win the historic gold for India in the sport.
