At 3:30 every Monday morning, while his peers at Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) slept, Arjan Singh Nagra was already at the stables in Delhi.

He would ride until 8 AM, then commute to Sonipat for class. After Tuesday's classes, he would return to Delhi, ride again at 4 AM on Wednesday, rest on Thursday, then head back Friday evening for a weekend of training. He kept this up for 6-7 months while also managing his BCom LL.B. classes.

"It has been an absolute nightmare, if I am being very honest, because my degree itself is very time consuming even on a stand alone basis," Nagra, 20, a third-year student at JGLS, told Bar and Bench.

He commended his faculty and the law school administration for supporting him through the arduous journey.

Nagra is the youngest Indian Eventing athlete ever selected for the national team for the Asian Games. The Equestrian Federation of India confirmed his place in the four-rider eventing squad for the 20th Asian Games, where equestrian events will be held at Tokyo's JRA Equestrian Park.

Eventing is an equestrian event that pairs a single horse and a rider across three very different tests in one competition. Dressage comes first, where the horse performs a sequence of precise, controlled movements that are scored on technique. Cross-country follows, a timed outdoor course of solid natural obstacles that tests stamina and partnership. The competition ends with a jumping round over fences.

Selection required qualifying at 2 of 3 designated international events. Nagra's first trial, at Orpe-le-Grand in Belgium, went his way. The second, at Caltignaga in Italy, did not. He was placed second after Dressage and Cross Country, but fell short in the jumping phase.

That left everything riding on the third and final qualifier, in Kaposvár, Hungary.

"It was a do or die situation. It would tell me if these 6 months (of training) were good enough," he said.

He finished first.

"I was the youngest, with the least amount of experience, but I worked hard for it and then I did it. It was a very, very nice feeling," he said.

The training toll though, has been constant. On an average day, Nagra trains 3-4 hours. Eventing, he says, rewards hours in the saddle more than anything else.

"Both mentally and physically, it's very draining. Whether it's not sleeping through the night studying for an exam, then going for riding the next day, it's really tough. Your whole college experience goes for a toss, because every weekend you are training and every two weeks you are at some competition, while your friends are in college," he said.

Nagra will ride the horse Cooley Goodwood in Tokyo. He is part of a four-rider squad that also includes Ashish Limaye on Willy Be Dun, who won the gold medal in Individual Eventing at the Asian Equestrian Championships last year and Captain Ahaan Kumar of the 61st Cavalry on Bolivar Gio Granno. The fourth rider is Fouaad Mirza, the Olympian and double Asian Games eventing medallist whom Nagra has formally trained under, riding Camouflage 38.

"It's a fine balance between experience and young blood. We have a very good, strong chance. Obviously the goal is to win. We request everyone to pray for us," he said.

The sport runs in the family. Arjan's father, Kirat Singh Nagra, a senior partner at DSK Legal, competed at the previous edition of the Asian Games in Show Jumping and has coached Arjan since childhood. His younger brother rides too.

"My father has always balanced his professional and personal life. I wish to be on the same lines - a lawyer and a sporting athlete," he said.

Nagra expects law to increasingly compete for his time and attention.

"Right now, I am in law school and I make time for the sport, but after some point. I will get more invested into the law side of things," he said.

For now, the ambition stays large.

"If you told anyone there's a 20-year-old who came to Europe with a new horse and a new partnership, and in three months needs to qualify for the Asian Games, they would laugh. But I was ambitious enough to say it out loud and do it. At the end of the day, we've given it a good shot, and here we are," he said.