Defending individual gold medallist Alex Hua Tian (CHN) leads the way in the eventing competition at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 while the host nation Japan leads the team standings after dressage and showjumping.
It hasn’t been the easiest start to the biggest sporting event in Asia with the competition timetable being altered due to the impact of Typhoon Dujuan. Heavy rain and strong winds forced the eventing competition, taking place at the Tokyo 2020 venue of JRA Equestrian Park, to be postponed with both the dressage and showjumping phases taking place on Tuesday 23rd September.
Alex Hua Tian leads after dressage
The dressage phase saw the UK-based Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian riding Manjushri take the lead on a score of 26.9 penalties, giving them a 2.8-penalty advantage over Thailand’s Korntawat Samran riding Billy Elmy on 29.7 and Japan’s Toshiyuki Tanaka and Talma D’Allou in third on 29.9.
Alex and Manjushri finished fourth at the FEI Asian Championships in Pattaya (THA) last year and, most recently, won the CCI3*-S at Alnwick Ford International Horse Trials in July on his dressage score.
“I've brought a very competitive horse,” said Hua Tian. “He's only nine years old, but he's already competing at four-star level and he's always been very reliable. “I'm here to win an individual medal. Whether it's gold, silver or bronze depends on what happens, but I hope we do a good job.”
China, the defending Asian Games team champion, sat in fourth place of the team standings (103.7) after the dressage but, following the withdrawal of Huadong Sun and Cadorico, China has only three combinations remaining and therefore no discard score.
Host nation Japan led the team competition after dressage on a combined score of 91.6 penalties, with all four of its combinations inside the top eight. Thailand held second place (95.1) and Hong Kong, China was in third (97.0) as the competition moved to the showjumping arena in the afternoon.
Japan maintains team lead after showjumping
Alex Hua Tian had less than a rail in hand after dressage but he didn’t need the small 2.8-penalty lead, jumping double clear to remain on his dressage score of 26.9 penalties and maintain his lead in the Individual competition on Tuesday afternoon.
The 1.20-metre jumping course, featuring 11 obstacles and 14 efforts, proved influential, with only eight of the 32 combinations completing without adding any penalties.
“I’m very happy,” said Alex “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 them, Thailand’s Woraphat Sittiju, with Uster de Chanay, moved from fourth to second after a clear round kept them on 30.1, while Japan’s Ryo Murata and Brookpark Vikenti also added nothing to climb two places to third on 30.4.
Yoshiaki Oiwa, with Ottawa des Desig, completed a clear round as well, moving from seventh to fourth on 31.3 and giving the host nation two combinations inside the top four.
The jumping phase proved costly for several of the combinations that had been closest to Hua Tian after dressage. Thailand’s Korntawat Samran and Billy Elmy dropped from second to 13th after adding 9.6 penalties, while Japan’s Toshiyuki Tanaka, with Talma D’Allou, slipped from third to 19th with 12.4 penalties.
Japan nevertheless extended its advantage in the Team competition. The hosts lead on 97.3 penalties, 12.1 ahead of Hong Kong, China on 109.4, with Thailand just 0.5 further back on 109.9. China, the defending Asian Games Team champions, have no discard score after starting the competition with only three combinations.
“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.”
India’s Team challenge ended when Arjan Singh Nagra and Cooley Goodwood were eliminated in jumping. With only three combinations entered, India had no discard score, although their remaining athletes, Ashish Limaye riding Willy Be Dun and Fouaad Mirza riding Camouflage 38, will continue in the Individual competition.
The medals will be decided over Wednesday’s 3,640-metre CCI2*-L cross-country course, designed by Poland’s Marcin Konarski, which features 24 obstacles and 30 jumping efforts, with an optimum time of seven minutes.
The heavy rain from Typhoon Dujuan has given organisers some extra headaches in preparing the compact and twisting track at Equestrian Park but “The ground looks much better than I thought it would after yesterday” says Alex Hua Tian “The team here did an amazing job to prepare the course and mitigate the effects as much as possible.”
“I think Marcin has done an excellent and very interesting job” he added “The time and technicality are going to be influential, and I think the ground could be very influential,”
“All of those things coming together will put a lot of pressure on the athletes, especially the ones who want to win. I think it's an open competition and it will be interesting and exciting all the way to the end.”
