Equestrian as a sport made its maiden appearance at the Asian Games in 1982 and saw host India dominating the competition with three gold medals. Since then, it had been a 41-year long wait for the elusive yellow medal that ended with a team dressage gold as a quartet of 20-plus year olds scripted history at the Tonglu Equestrian Centre in Hangzhou on September 26.
It was also the first-ever medal in dressage for India, the previous one coming in eventing. The four riders and their horses — Sudipti Hajela (Chinski), Divyakriti Singh (Adrenalin Firfod), Hriday Cheda (Chemxpro Emerald) and Anush Agarwalla (Etro) — overcame a strong field that saw multiple-times winner South Korea being eliminated and defending champion Japan relegated to fourth.
