Pradyum Agarwal, 17, a student of Pathways School, Noida, bagged gold medal at the Junior National Equestrian Championship 2020 recently held at the Army Equestrian Centre, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi Cantt.
“Last year, I came fourth, missing the bronze by a second.
At that time, I was riding an Indian breed, Sholar,” said an elated Agarwal, adding, “So, this time I trained on a new horse, a thoroughbred named Sparta, and clicked second fastest speed in the Equestrian Tent Pegging Arena.” In the Individual Tent Pegging Sword event, Agarwal picked five pegs out of six, with the highest score of 30 points and no time penalties.
For his skills, he has earned widespread appreciation. “He is just 17, and plays so well. If he keeps focus on his game improvisation, he could probably play for India one day,” says Maj Gen NS Rajpurohit, president of the jury.
That’s precisely what Agarwal wants to do. “Someday, I want to play for Team India,” says the young lad, who otherwise wants to become a businessman like his father, and has his eyes set on the UK for an undergraduate course in business management.
This resident of Sector 36, Noida, entered the arena of horse riding at age 4. “I don’t know how I fell in love with this sport, I simply loved horse riding,” he says. The fact that his school (Amity School, Noida) had the facility of horse riding helped much. “In Class 8, I shifted to Pathways, and that also has very good sporting facilities,” he adds.
Does he have other interests/hobbies? “There is hardly any time left after studies and horse riding. Whenever I do get time, I spend at playing golf,” says Agarwal, adding that TV, movies or online gaming doesn’t interest him.
Side trivia
Pradyum Agarwal started horse riding because he loved horses. It was in Class 9 that he took it up as a sport with tent pegging. Agarwal recently joined and practiced at the Gurukul Horse Riding Club, Ghaziabad. “I used to train for about five hours every day at the academy, though in the lockdown I went without training since the academy too was closed,” he says.