PR90950

TOKYO, July 30, 2021, /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

British take early lead in opening dressage phase- by Louise Parkes.

World number one, Oliver Townend, gave the British team the best possible start

when taking the individual lead as the Dressage phase kicked off equestrian

Eventing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Baji Koen today.

Going second in the first of today's two sessions, with a further 20

horse-and-rider combinations to go tomorrow morning, the 38-year-old athlete

who is a triple European team gold medallist, produced what he described as "a

very safe test" for a score of 23.6 with the Irish-bred grey, Ballaghmor Class.

Team-mate, Laura Collett, then backed that up with a score of 25.80 for

overnight fourth place individually with London 52, but she wasn't overly

pleased with her own performance. However her result was plenty good enough to

secure pole position for her country this evening.

Leaderboard

It's a fascinating leaderboard with two-thirds of the dressage competitors now

completed. Lying second are Team Sweden, with the hosts from Japan in third and

China in fourth place. Few would have expected Germany to be lying fifth and

New Zealand, France, Switzerland, USA and Australia stacking up behind them in

the field of 15 nations.

A brilliant ride by China's Alex Hua Tian with Don Geniro brought him closest

to Townend's leading score when putting 23.90 on the board for individual

second place while Germany's Julia Krajewski and Amande de B'Neville lie third

on 25.20.

The short action-packed dressage test, specially created for these Olympic

Games, takes just 3.5 minutes to complete and, underlining the quality of the

field, a total of seven combinations scored below 30 during this morning's

first session. Three more joined that elite group as the day progressed and

amongst them was India's Fouad Mirza riding the experienced 15-year-old gelding

Seigneur that competed so successfully for Germany's Bettina Hoy. "I'm so lucky

to ride such a great horse, he's a gentleman in every sense, kind and honest",

said the athlete who is only the third rider from his country to compete in

Olympic Eventing.

Overnight there were some changes to the teams, with both Australia's Stuart

Tinney (Leporis) and Ireland's Cathal Daniels (Rioghan Rua) withdrawing. Tinney

has been replaced by Kevin McNab (Don Quidam) and Daniels by Austin O'Connor

(Colorado Blue).

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