look news india
New Delhi, June 25 (HS). The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) has selected Anush Aggarwal to represent the country in the dressage event at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
EFI selected him over Shruti Vora based on a thorough evaluation of his recent performances, where Anush had shown a better average performance.
This will be India's first entry in the dressage event at the Olympics as in previous editions most riders competed only in the eventing categories.
Agarwal has been a consistent performer since the qualification period began last year and has achieved the minimum qualification four times, while veteran Shruti Vora earned the required two MERs this month.
When the average of the contenders was calculated in the evaluation, Anush emerged as the winner. His average score was 67.695 per cent, which was better than Shruti's 67.163 per cent.
As per the criteria set by the federation, the rider-horse combination is required to achieve a minimum of 67 per cent twice between January 1, 2023 and June 24, 2024 to be eligible for Paris Games qualification. As per the EFI selection criteria, if more than one athlete is eligible then the athlete with the highest average in the Grand Prix from the best four events in the past one year will be selected to participate. Only scores from FEI level competitions and above are counted. These scores must be achieved at shows in the list of MER events from 2023 to 2024.
Shruti (with horse Magnanimous) had earned her second MER of the year by finishing second at the Brno Grand Prix in the Czech Republic, where she scored 68.174 points in the dressage event, making her eligible for Olympic qualification.
Shruti had earned her first MER earlier this month when she became the first Indian rider to win the Dressage World Cup, a three-star Grand Prix event held in Lipica, Slovenia, with 67.761 points. Her other two GP performances were 66.543 and 66.174 points, which were below the MER level.
Anush Aggarwal has achieved the MER four times – 67.936 (Wiesbaden, May 2024), 68.261 (Mechelen, December 2023), 67.152 (Frankfurt, December 2023) and 67.804 (Wroclaw, October 2023).
This decision was taken unanimously by the Executive Council and the President gave his approval to this decision.
Fawad Mirza represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Before him, Imtiaz Anees participated in the 2000 Sydney Games while Inderjit Lamba participated in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Jitenderjit Singh Ahluwalia, Hussain Singh, Mohammad Khan and Dariya Singh all participated in the 1980 Moscow Games.