KAZAKHSTAN’S SOLOVYOV TAKES INDIVIDUAL GOLD, RUSSIA SCOOPS TEAM TITLE by Louise Parkes

Lausanne (SUI), 18 JULY 2011 – Peter Solovyov took individual gold for the host nation at the recent FEI Central Asian Open Jumping Championship staged in Astana, Kazakhstan where Russia won the team title.  This was the third major fixture to take place in Kazakhstan this year, following the Endurance and Dressage Championships which were held in May and June.  It is a measure of the development of, and enthusiasm for, the equestrian disciplines in the region that the 2011 calendar has been such a busy one.  And Solovyov’s victory is a major boost to the small National Federation which boasts a panel of just five riders in its senior Jumping squad this season.

Solovyov’s march to individual glory was a gradual one, with his opening effort with It’s Me du Mesnil leaving him 23rd in a field of 26 starters.  It was Russia’s Karin Ruslan and Migdolas who came out on top here, ahead of Kazakhstan’s Talyat Islamov and Atom in second while another Russian, Sergey Shepelin, steered Amigo into third place.

Astana, which officially became the capital city of the newly-independent Kazakhstan in 1997, was only granted its name the following year.  In Kazakh, the word Astana means “capital”, but it also has Persian origins referring to a “threshold”, and, located where it is, on the cross-roads between East and West, that threshold has been crossed by many of its neighbours this summer as they have pursued their equestrian hopes and dreams. Competitors from five nations – Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Urkraine – lined out in these championships.

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