Equestrian Anush Agarwalla Gives Up Asian Games Fight; feels “betrayed” by the Federation, the IOA, the Ministry of Sports

Anush Agarwalla (Image credit: Instagram) NEW DELHI: Equestrian Anush Agarwalla has admitted his dream of competing in the 2026 Asian Games, which begins on September 19, is over. The rider said he felt “betrayed” after his pleas to the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) went unheeded.“The dream of the 2026 Asian Games is officially over. Words cannot explain the pain and emptiness I feel 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 never got a chance to compete,” he wrote in the post.“I can accept defeat on the field. That’s the sport. You fight, you win, you lose and you come back stronger. But this feels less like a defeat and more like a betrayal. Accepting the result doesn’t mean I have to believe the process was right.”“I fought until the last moment and I’m proud of it. Fighting for a medal is a better fight every day. Fighting against the system may never bring 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. I may not have gotten to fight for a medal. But I made sure the message was registered. Despite all I tried to do, I turned to ministry, the IOA and the Federation, no athlete needs to go through this again if India is to become a true sporting nation, athletes deserve a system that is fair, transparent and respects years of work at every opportunity,” he continued.In July, the Supreme Court dismissed pleas by riders Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela challenging the Delhi High Court’s refusal to interfere with their non-selection to the dressage team for the Asian Games.Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe refused to grant any relief to the two-time Asian Games medalist, saying the court was very reluctant to interfere in individual sports matters.Both riders won gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games and filed petitions after not being selected for the upcoming edition by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).In August, the Sports Ministry stressed it would stick to the selection criteria despite “building pressure”.

Image credit: Anush Agarwalla’s Instagram handle

In its selection criteria published in 2025, the ministry made it clear that only those with a “real chance of winning a medal” would be considered for multi-sport events, including the Asian Games, through selection trials that would be videotaped and overseen by independent observers.The EFI ad-hoc committee first named the 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.