Hua Tian Leads Asian Games Eventing After Jumping Round
Jumping Round Reshapes the Standings
Alex Hua Tian maintained his lead in the eventing individual competition at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday, as the jumping phase at Tokyo's Equestrian Park reshaped the leaderboard and strengthened Japan's position at the top of the team standings. The 1.20-metre course featured 11 obstacles and 14 efforts, and proved influential throughout the field of 32 combinations.
Only eight of the 32 combinations completed the course without adding penalties. China's Hua Tian and Manjushri were among them, remaining on their dressage score of 26.9 penalties heading into Wednesday's concluding cross-country phase, the final and deciding stage of the competition at Equestrian Park.
“I’m very happy,” Hua Tian said. “The technical bits are out of the way now, and I’ve got to focus on the cross-country tomorrow and do a good job. I have confidence in the horse, but of course it’s cross-country – anything can happen. I’m just going to have another look now and make my final plans for tomorrow.”
Behind the leader, Thailand's Woraphat Sittiju, riding Uster de Chanay, moved from fourth to second after a clear round kept the combination on 30.1 penalties. Japan's Ryo Murata and Brookpark Vikenti also added nothing to their score, climbing two places to third on 30.4 penalties overall.
Host Nation Strengthens Its Hand
Yoshiaki Oiwa, riding Ottawa des Desig, completed a clear round as well, moving from seventh to fourth on 31.3 penalties and giving Japan two combinations inside the top four ahead of Wednesday's cross-country. Oiwa competed for Japan at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, where the host nation won team eventing gold.
The jumping phase proved costly for combinations that had sat closest to Hua Tian after the dressage phase. Thailand's Korntawat Samran and Billy Elmy dropped from second to 13th after adding 9.6 penalties, while Japan's Toshiyuki Tanaka, riding Talma D'Allou, slipped from third to 19th with 12.4 penalties added.
Japan extended its advantage in the team competition, leading on 97.3 penalties, 12.1 ahead of Hong Kong, China on 109.4, with Thailand a further 0.5 penalties back on 109.9. China, the defending Asian Games team champions, carry no discard score — the option to drop a team's weakest individual result — after starting the competition with only three combinations entered.
“The fact that we're in the lead after the first day is exactly as planned, although the actual results were a little different from what we predicted,” said Japanese Chef d'Equipe Atsushi Negishi. “We had hoped everyone would score over 70% in the dressage, but we started with more penalty points than expected. But after the dressage and jumping, we're in first place with a 12-point lead. I believe we've gained a significant advantage.”
Cross-Country Set to Decide the Medals
India's team challenge ended in the jumping phase when Arjan Singh Nagra and Cooley Goodwood were eliminated. With only three combinations entered, India had no discard score available, though the nation's remaining athletes continue in the individual competition through to Wednesday's finale.
The medals will be decided over a 3,640-metre cross-country course featuring 24 obstacles and 30 efforts, with an optimum time of seven minutes. Cross-country was moved to Wednesday after heavy rain from Typhoon Dujuan, giving organisers additional time to prepare the compact and twisting track at Equestrian Park.
Hua Tian walked the course again on Tuesday afternoon before finalising his plans for Manjushri. “I think the time is going to be influential,” he said. “The ground looks much better than I thought it would after yesterday. The team here did an amazing job to prepare the course and mitigate the effects as much as possible.”
Hua Tian, the first Chinese rider registered with the FEI, previously took individual bronze at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and swept team and individual gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, held in 2023 due to pandemic delays.