Junior equestrian tour targets nation's future world riders

A national equestrian competition for juniors was launched on Wednesday to attract more future stars to the sport in China.

From May to August, 14 cities across China and worldwide, including Taipei, will join the tour and the finals will be held in Beijing. Almost 1,000 participants are expected to compete in the tour.

Launched by Beijing Turf & Equestrian Association in 2014, the annual event this year was joined by Sina Sports and French Equestrian Federation to bring more marketing force and international representation.

England-based Alex Hua Tian, the first Chinese eventer to compete at the Olympics, and Yu Qian Chinese crosstalk performer who runs an equestrian club in Tianjin, and Chinese singer Shang Wenjie, who has strong French-language skills, were invited as ambassadors of the event.

Equestrian clubs have sprung up during the past year and there are now 1,452 compared with 907 last year. About 62 percent of the club members were youngsters.

According to Wei Jianglei, senior vice-president of Sina Group and general manager of Sina Sports, equestrian is the second sport after ice hockey that Sina is focusing on in the form of youth league. Amid the competition, a schoolmaster forum will be held this year to get more schools involved in the sport, said Wei.

Beijing Turf & Equestrian Association released the country's first junior equestrian certification system in 2015 and the first equestrian coach certification system in 2016.

The first leg will kick off in Wuxi of East China's Jiangsu province on May 5.