Lausanne (SUI), 19 October 2012 – The Greek hosts of the Balkan Dressage Championships welcomed five visiting nations to Athens, but kept hold of all of the gold medals on offer, as well as claiming all three individual medals in both the junior and senior championships.
Staged at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre, site of the equestrian events at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the Balkan Dressage Championships ran alongside last month’s Balkan Jumping Championships, in which Greek riders also dominated.
While the Dressage Championships attracted a smaller field than the Jumping Championships, there were still 42 riders and horses from six nations to battle it out for the honours, so competition was hot.
Awarded top marks by four out of the five judges, Kyveli Tzortzaki led the home side to gold in the children’s team championship with the impressive six-year-old Hannoverian mare Highnessy Newland. This new partnership, which has only been together since the summer, then went on to take individual honours as well, with all five judges this time putting them in first. Next in line was team mate Vassiliki Voltairou with Chiron, who held on for silver by a slim margin from Lina Uzunhasan and Sjonie, members of the Turkish silver medal squad in the team championship.
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