NEW DELHI: Equestrian Anush Agarwalla conceded his dream of competing in the 2026 Asian Games, which begin on September 19, is over. The rider said he felt ‘betrayed’ after his pleas to the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) went unheard.“The dream of Asian Games 2026 is officially over. Words cannot explain the pain and emptiness I feel right now. I have always represented India with immense pride, and always will. But this time, I am deeply hurt – not because I lost, but because I was never given the chance to compete,” he wrote in a post.“I can accept defeat on the field. That is sport. You fight, you win, you lose, and you come back stronger. But this feels less like defeat and more like betrayal. Accepting an outcome doesn’t mean I have to believe the process was right.“I fought until the very last moment, and I am proud of that. A fight for a medal is any day a better fight. A fight against the system may never yield a medal, but at least it leaves a record of who stood in the way between me, Floriana, my horse, and the medal we worked for. Maybe I didn’t get to fight for the medal. But I made sure the message was registered. Despite reaching out to the Federation, IOA and the Ministry, there was no effort to review what happened. I only hope no athlete has to go through this again. If India wants to become a true sporting nation, athletes deserve a system that is fair, transparent and respects the years of work behind every opportunity,” he continued.In July, the Supreme Court had dismissed riders Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela’s pleas challenging the Delhi High Court’s refusal to interfere with their non-selection in the dressage team for the Asian Games.A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe had refused to grant any relief to the two-time Asian Games medallist, saying the court is very reluctant to interfere in individual sports matters.Both riders won gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games and had filed petitions after they were not selected for the upcoming edition by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).In August, the Sports Ministry had stressed that it would stick to the selection criterias despite “pressure being created.”
Image credit: Anush Agarwalla’s Instagram handle
In its selection criteria unveiled in 2025, the Ministry had made it clear that only those with “realistic chance of winning a medal” would be considered for multi-sport events, including the Asian Games, through selection trials that would be videographed and overseen by independent observers.EFI’s ad-hoc committee had first named a selection list in June for the dressage event at the Asian Games, where Agarwalla and Hajela were placed as reserve riders. Agarwalla was named as first reserve and Hajela as second reserve — while four riders were selected ahead of them (Shruti Vora, Gaurav Pundir, Jai Sud and Hriday Chheda).The Asian Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 19 to October 4.
