‘Heartbreaking’ team withdrawal from Tokyo Paralympic dressage: ‘horse and rider welfare is our top priority’
(Image credit: Pippa Roome)
Hong Kong has made the “heartbreaking” decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Paralympic dressage team competition, after one of the side’s horses showed signs of lameness after arriving at the Games.
Hong Kong was set to make its team dressage Paralympic debut in Tokyo. Its squad of three arrived at the Games on Friday (20 August), but the withdrawal of Timothy Tsang’s ride Cethegus M (“Gus”) means the side cannot continue in the team competition.
Paralympic dressage start time
Hong Kong’s withdrawal, coupled with the hot weather Tokyo is experiencing, mean several Paralympic dressage sessions have been pushed back an hour from the original schedule.
The wet bulb forecast for the next three days is for mid-afternoon temperatures to reach between around 31 and 32+ degrees. The Wet Bulb Globe Forecast measures humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation), as well as temperature, to give an overall measure of climatic conditions.
The individual and freestyle Tokyo Paralympic dressage sessions were set to start just after 3pm on their respective days. This has now become 4pm.
“It was agreed that the 3pm start time for the para dressage competitions would not be suitable, as it would be too hot at this time of the day for competition to take place,” an FEI spokesman told H&H.
“In addition, following the withdrawal of the Hong Kong team, the start times were amended.”
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