Huang Zuping: equestrian sports need perfecting

China needs to add mid-level rounds to the current status of the sport and perfect its overall settings, skilled Chinese equestrian Huang Zuping said on Sunday night at a seminar during the China Equestrian Festival 2012.

"The biggest absence in the national equestrian competition is the mid-level (130 cm) event, which is a necessary way to attain a higher level," said Huang Zuping, 49, China's very first Olympic equestrian athlete .

The first Equestrian Seminar took place Sunday, attracting experts and representatives from Australia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany during the China Equestrian Festival 2012 which runs in Chengdu's Wenjiang District from Oct. 13 to Oct. 20.

The lack of an interim level in the competition settings made young Chinese equestrians not have many opportunities to practice and learn. So now only the veteran and older equestrians will compete on the higher level.

Huang's best performance was a 6th place at the 2008 Germany Hagen Qualification. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the show jumping events, but failed to win a medal.

According to Huang, the number of sportsmen who can participate on the levels of 145 cm and above, is currently set at no more than 20 across China. But while the elite is quite scarce, the equestrian sport needs to be promoted and boosted by more younger participants.

Huang mentioned in his speech that he hoped the national competition would be able to add the mid-level rounds by next year. Only by doing this, can the sport attract more riders and horses.

ompared to France, China still has a long way to go. Emmanuelle Morvillers, a speaker from France's National Inter-professional Horse Union (UNIC) said that there's an equestrian center present in every village in France and some of the bigger centers count as many as 200 horses.

On Monday morning, the Ordos Team Brother Fortune from Inner Mongolia won the 1st Barrel Racing Event of Sichuan Province. All team members were born in the 1990s.

Also on Sunday afternoon, one of the biggest highlight of the China Equestrian Festival 2012 came to an end. Mongolian Chinese equestrian Liu Tongyan became champion of the Chengdu leg of the FEI World Cup Show Jumping China League, beating his fellow China's Hong Kong, Mexican, Belgian, Spanish and Irish riders.