Tokyo Olympics: Heartbreak 2.0 for Hong Kong showjumper Kenneth Cheng as CAS ruling overturns quota spot

Hong Kong Equestrian Federation notified it will now take up reserve slots in individual and team showjumping categories after Sri Lankan rider’s qualification reinstated

Hong Kong riders to continue to focus on certificate of capability scores ahead of postponed Games; eventing qualification spot still locked in

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Kenneth Cheng Man-kit competing at the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010. Photo: SCMP

Published: 12:32pm, 28 Apr 2021Updated: 12:32pm, 28 Apr 2021

Hong Kong has lost a Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games quota spot in equestrian showjumping after the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) retroactively overruled an International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) decision.

The move last week comes after CAS upheld Sri Lankan rider Mathilda Karlsson’s appeal against the FEI’s annulling of results from competitions in Villeneuve-Loubet, France in January 2020, in which Karlsson’s Olympics qualification points were not counted. Karlsson subsequently dropped out of the individual showjumping slot quota, where the top two athletes from the prearranged regional group could earn additional slots for their respective countries.

As of December 2019, Jasmine Chen Shao-Man of Taiwan and Karlsson led the way in Group G (Southeast Asia and Oceania). However, in February 2020 – one month before the one-year postponement of the Games – the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation (HKEF) was informed that organisers would not count points accrued at the three-week French event.

This allowed the next-highest ranked rider in Group G, Hong Kong’s Kenneth Cheng Man-kit, to edge past, having secured his own points in China. His Tokyo 2020 dreams had earlier appeared over after heartbreakingly missing out for second place in the official rankings in January last year.

Kenneth Cheng and Balou clear a barrier during the Longines Speed Challenge (1.45m) at the Hong Kong Masters International jumping competition in Hong Kong in 2014. Photo: AP

Upon hearing the good news, Hong Kong – like surrounding qualified international set-ups – restricted travel and competition to focus on preparing for the second of two steps required for qualification: earning the so-called certificate of capability (CoC) for a final “confirmation result”. The Covid-19 pandemic also hugely affected movements.