Ukraine and Japan will both be represented in the Olympic Jumping events at London 2012, following their success at the Olympic qualification event held in Aachen (GER) on 10 July. Ukraine secured a team slot and Japan one individual place during Sunday’s qualifier for Olympic Groups C – Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia – and G – South East Asia and Oceania.
Eight teams – Azerbaijan, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine – took part in the two-round competition. Competing over a strong track designed by Frank Rothenberger, team Ukraine were clear in the first round and finished on a score of 12 penalties to earn a team ticket to London 2012. The Ukrainians ended ahead of Turkey (25) and Poland (33) in the final standings. The complete results of the Olympic Qualification event for Groups C or G are available here.
There was a jump-off for the individual spot available for the best placed rider of Olympic Qualification Group G. Taizo Sugitani (JPN) and Jasmin Chen (TPE) were tied on nine faults after the second round and went forward to a timed decider. Both riders were clear against the clock, but the Olympic slot went to Japan when Taizo Sugitani completed the course in 53.97 seconds, almost two seconds faster than Jasmin Chen’s 55.61. The detailed individual results are available here.