Ryttar-OS: Hemmalaget kvalat i hoppning

I onsdags kvalade Hongkongs hopplag in till Ryttar-OS på hemmaplan.

Från Hongkong Jockey Club:
In a historic day for Hong Kong sport, four Hong Kong jumping riders – three of them sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust – booked their tickets for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Equestrian Events at a special qualifying event in Germany yesterday.

Club-sponsored riders Kenneth Cheng, Samantha Lam and Jennifer Lee, along with Patrick Lam, all earned their Olympic Certificate of Capability (COC) at a special qualifying event in Hagen, north-west Germany yesterday.

Kenneth Cheng and Samantha Lam qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Equestrian Events with two horses each, Cheng with Jockey Club Can Do and Felton Lee and Lam with Jockey Club Tresor and Coco. Fellow Club-sponsored rider Jennifer Lee also got her COC with Mr Burns. With a COC also in the bag for Patrick Lam and Urban, Hong Kong now has a full team qualified for the 2008 Olympic equestrian events. .

"I'm a bit shell-shocked" said Cheng, who was clear with his two horses, Jockey Club Can Do and Felton Lee, in the Hagen qualifier. "It's like a dream come true. First I get the chance to be a torchbearer in the Olympic Torch Relay and now I've qualified to actually compete in the Olympics. It's just incredible."

"I'm absolutely over the moon", said Lam, who was clear with both Jockey Club Tresor and Coco. "The horses were just brilliant today. It was as though they knew how much was riding on it and were determined to do their best."

"This is a historic day for Hong Kong", Club Chief Executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "It's the first time that Hong Kong has ever got an equestrian team qualified for the Olympics. Now, not only are they qualified, but they will be jumping on home ground in Hong Kong. It's fantastic news."

The four Hong Kong riders all competed at yesterday's International Equestrian Federation (FEI) approved qualifier organised specifically for the Chinese and Hong Kong riders. Australian and New Zealand riders also jumped at the qualifier in Hagen, which was facilitated by the FEI to give extra competition experience to the riders.

The 11-fence course, which included three fences standing at over 1.60 metres, was designed by Germany's Frank Rothenberger, who produced the courses at the 2006 World Equestrian Games and two European championships. Rothenberger, who is widely recognised as one of the world's top designers, is also an officially recognised Olympic course designer.

Hans Wallmeier, also of Germany, was brought in as the Assessing Delegate, to ensure that the qualifier was run according to FEI rules. Wallmeier, who is one of Germany's top equestrian officials, was overall chief steward at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen.

Cheng, who lit the Olympic Torch Relay cauldron in Sha Tin Racecourse on horseback on 2 May, is now in Austria with Jennifer Lee and Patrick Lam for tomorrow's (Friday, 9 May) Austrian four-star Nations Cup show at Linz. Both the Nations Cup and Sunday's Grand Prix are also Olympic qualifiers.


OLYMPIC EQUESTRIAN QUALIFIED RIDERS BIOS

SAMANTHA LAM

Born of Hong Kong parents in Vancouver, BC, Canada on 29 June, 1978, Samantha Lam started riding at the age of seven and got her first pony, the chestnut mare Weecha, a year later. Her first Grand Prix horse, Manadi, was originally bought for her father Solomon to jump in amateur classes, but Samantha took over the ride.

After a couple of training sessions with celebrated American trainer George Morris, Samantha started training more intensively with Morris, making her Grand Prix debut at the age of 14. In 1996 she finished third in the prestigious US$100,000 Budweiser Invitational in Tampa, Florida. Later that year she went on to claim sixth overall in the selection trials for the Canadian Olympic team and was named as first reserve for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

In April 1997 Samantha became the youngest ever female rider to compete in the World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden and the following year she moved to Germany to focus on her riding career. During an eight-year stint in Germany she earned the respect of her colleagues on the international jumping circuit and was awarded the German Golden Riding Medal, the German Equestrian Federation's highest honour for professional riders.

During her time on the Florida circuit, prior to her move to Germany, Samantha had met up with Nelson Pessoa, Brazil's best- known coach and a five-time Olympian himself. In March 2006, Samantha relocated to Pessoa's stables in Belgium to work and train with the maestro, whose son Rodrigo is the reigning Olympic jumping champion and winner of three World Cup Finals in a row.

Samantha, who was born in the Year of the Horse, is one of a squad of riders to receive sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Fund.


KENNETH CHENG

Born in Hong Kong on 7 April 1988, Kenneth Cheng started riding at an early age. "I started at about four or five because both my parents rode, but I didn't really enjoy it then", Cheng says. "It was only when I got to about 15 and was starting to get results in competitions that I started to enjoy it."

Cheng first learned to ride at Lo Wu Saddle Club in Sheung Shui before switching to The Hong Kong Jockey Club owned Beas River Country Club. He was still riding only once a week, but by the time he was 14, he was riding almost every day. It was a natural progression to start training in Europe every summer and, at the age of 17, he started preparing for the Asian Games.

Then training with the 2002 world champion, Dermott Lennon of Ireland, Cheng competed in the Asian Classic League Finals at the World Cup Finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2006, winning the final class of the Asian Classic League in the build-up to the Asian Games later that year.

In 1986, Kenneth's father, K M Cheng had represented Hong Kong in the Asian Games in Seoul, Korea, and was a member of the team that finished fourth, frustratingly just outside the medals. Two decades later, K M's 18-year-old son Kenneth also flew the flag for Hong Kong at the Asian Games, this time in Doha, Qatar. Kenneth, who previewed his 2008 Olympic torchbearer role when he was selected as a torchbearer for the 2006 Asian Games, claimed a top 20 finish in Doha.

After a spell training in Switzerland with a colleague of former World Cup champion Marcus Fuchs, Cheng switched to Belgium-based Dutchman Henk Nooren. Two World Cup qualifier wins at Beas River with the retired racehorse Kin Fortune boosted Cheng's profile and it was no surprise when he was among a group of riders to receive sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Fund in November last year.

Cheng, who was home in Hong Kong briefly last week to fulfil his duties as a torchbearer in the Olympic Torch Relay, now has two horses qualified for the Olympic equestrian events, Jockey Club Can Do, from former world number one Ludger Beerbaum, and Felton Lee, which is owned by a private Hong Kong sponsor.


JENNIFER LEE

Jennifer Lee was born in Virginia, USA on 15 August, 1965, so she will be celebrating her birthday on the day of the first Olympic jumping event at the Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Venue in Sha Tin.

She has lived in Hong Kong with husband Lee Kwok Tung (Sam), a Hong Kong-born Chinese national, since 1994. She has been riding in Hong Kong for the past 13 years and has represented Hong Kong successfully at international level on numerous occasions.

Well-known on the Asian competition circuit, she has won team or individual medals for Hong Kong at every competition she has ridden in since 2001. Her medal haul includes gold medals in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2004, silver in Korea 2006, Thailand 2004 and India 2001 and bronze in Korea 2004 and 2005 and India 2004.

She holds the Hong Kong high jump record after clearing a 1.7 metre wall in March 2004 with a retired racehorse that she nursed back from a leg injury and trained to jump – with obvious success.

Jennifer has won the Advanced level of the Hong Kong leg of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Jumping Challenge three times, in 2001, 2004 and 2006. Her 2001 win gave her an overall world ranking of 11th in the FEI World Jumping Challenge. She also won the Advanced section of Hong Kong's FEI World Dressage Challenge in 2004.

Jennifer Lee is one of a squad of riders to receive sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Fund.