Dear members,
Following the previous session on Hong Kong’s Olympic Eventing Journey, the HKEF has invited three Hong Kong Para riders Fleur Schrader, Timothy Tsang and Natasha Tse for the session “Hong Kong Para Riders’ Journey to Paralympics” this evening. Delegation members Stephane Morai, Dr. Adrian Farrington and Annie Ho, as well as Amanda Bond, Chair of the FEI Para Equestrian Technical Committee and Head of Equestrian Affairs, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, were also the guest speakers.
The session started with three Para riders’ sharing on their experience at the Games. Expressing the excitement going to the world stage, they also shared with us their aspirations and goals for the future. “I really enjoyed competing at a super amazing show ground and it was a good experience to have my teammates supporting one another,” said Natasha. “I look forward to entering to the next Paralympics.” “I felt so privileged and proud that I got a chance to represent Hong Kong and compete, I was really pleased with how I did for my debut at the Games,” said Fleur. “I’ll definitely be gunning to be at Paris 2021. I expect myself to churn out an even better performance at Paris!” Timothy, who unfortunately withdrew the Games with his horse Cethegus M, said, “Although I couldn’t compete, I really enjoyed cheering and supporting my teammates.”
Stephane Morai, the Team Coach, commented on the riders’ performances, “Natasha did fantastically well in getting Baxo more relaxed over the test. Fleur and Caraat are a very strong duo, even it is a new partnership under the training of Annie in the UK. I am very happy how accurate both riders rode their tests today.”
Annie Ho, who trained Fleur in the UK and traveled together to Tokyo, said, “I trained Fleur in a gradual approach, working on the basic paces one after another. I didn’t take the delay of the Games and all these restrictions under the pandemic as disadvantages because we were able to spend more time working on the details.”
It has been a challenge preparing for the Games with travel and quarantine restrictions under the pandemic. The delegation behind has worked closely to make the participation to the Paralympics possible. “We had a lot of complications and challenges during our preparation for the Games, like competition experience, travel restrictions, quarantine requirements and the change in the support team traveling to Tokyo. We must say a big thank you to everyone involved to make things happen,” recalled Amanda Bond, Chair of the FEI Para Equestrian Technical Committee and Head of Equestrian Affairs, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“It was the entire team’s work in making sure all horses are fit for competitions, and all the small parts have made up the best planning for the horses in Tokyo,” Adrian Farrington the Team Vet also shared with us his experience in Tokyo.
Angela Kong, HKEF Secretary General and host of the sharing session, thanked all three Para riders for their efforts and hard work all the way to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Gratitude also goes to all members of Hong Kong Para Equestrian Delegation for supporting the riders throughout the entire preparation and the Games period.
The HKEF would like to express our gratitude to Fleur, Timothy, Natasha, Amanda, Stephane, Annie and Adrian for their time and support to the session. We hope that all members enjoyed the session and were inspired by the journey of our Para riders.
Please also feel free to share with us any suggestions or ideas for future online sessions. We really appreciate your opinion so we can provide a wide variety of your favourite contents.
Best Regards,
Hong Kong Equestrian Federation
