Youth Olympic Equestrian: Caroline Chew does well to finish joint-17th amidst tough competition

Red Sports, Singapur
24 de agosto de 2010

Singapore rider Caroline Chew in action during her second round in the individual jumping event. The second-year student of Hwa Chong Institution finished the competition in 17th.

Singapore Turf Club Riding Centre, Tuesday, August 24, 2010 – Caroline Chew, together with her gelding thoroughbred, Gatineau, finished a respectable joint-17th after knocking down only two poles of Obstacle 4. Clearing the rest of the 11 obstacles without mistakes, she finished the near-perfect round with a time of 75.12 seconds, scoring four jump penalties and 12 penalties in total.

The round saw Colombia’s Mario Gamboa and Marcelo Chirico of Uruguay qualifying in the Jump-Off for the Gold and Silver places, and Wojciech Dahlke (Poland), Samantha McIntosh (South Africa), Thomas McDermott (Australia), Dalma Rushdi Malhas (Saudi Arabia), Abdurrahman Al Marri (Qatar) and Mohamad Alanzarouti of Syria in the Jump Off for Bronze.

The Singaporean rider overcame the first three obstacles without a hitch, until she came to Obstacle 4, which gave most riders a problem throughout the round.

The first pole came off Gatineau’s front hooves after the initial leap while the steed’s rear hooves just caught the top of the second pole, giving her the four jump penalty points.

After clearing the rest of the obstacles flawlessly amidst the rapturous applause of the home fans, Caroline Chew finished joint 17th, together with Hong Kong’s Jasmine Lai on Butterfly Kisses and Eirin Brunheim of United States on Lenny Hays.

“It was an improvement over the first round, and I’m happy with how today went,” said the cheerful second-year student of Hwa Chong Institution.