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Patience needed in developing equestrianism in China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-16 13:30
In the sport of equestrian, riders need to be very patient to their horses.
To some foreign experts' opinions, patience is also needed in the developing the
sport in China.
Equestrian is the ultimate in team sports, a horse and rider working together
for years to hone feats of grace, daring, agility and speed.
Although equestrian has been developing quickly in China in the last two
decades, the sport originated in Greece and making it first appearance at
Olympics in 1900, is still young and fresh in China.
Mariett Withages from the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) came to
Nanjing as one of the three foreign judges in the dressage events at the 10th
Chinese National Games. She said on Sunday that China did has some good riders.
However, it would certainly take time for them to be able to compete with the
top riders from Europe and the United States.
"After all, the sport is quite new in China," said Withages, the chairman of
the Dressage Committee of FEI. "It is hard to say how long it will take the
Chinese riders to join the big league of equestrian. They need not only
training, but also good horses and top-quality equipments."
When the Chinese riders finally fix their Olympic debut in 2008 as six riders
of the host country could compete in the finals in Hong Kong, skipping
qualifying tournaments, Peter Van de Voort, a trainer from the Netherlands
thought that the Chinese equestrian should not expect making huge progresses in
a very short time.
"I did here in four months what we usually do in two years in Europe," Voort
said while describing his work as the coach of the Hubei team. "I know the
Chinese riders want to be with the world and I can imagine that. However, it
must take years of training."
What's more, Voort said that equestrian is not popular enough in China at the
moment. "You can see many Chinese people go to watch badminton or table tennis
matches but not equestrian events. "
"It seems that most of the spectators here have little knowledge about
equestrian. Therefore, they don't know how to enjoy the events," Withages said.
According to Withages, equestrian is really an exciting sport, "but you have
to know what to look for first".
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