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The following is issued on behalf of The Equestrian Company:
Chinese tea-drinking is the common theme for the winning designs in the Professional and Junior Categories in the Equestrian Events Jumping Fence Design Competition organised by The Equestrian Company.
Meanwhile, traditional Chinese operatic and folk art provided inspiration for the winning design in the Senior Category.
These designs will be used as a source of reference in designing the fences for the Jumping Discipline in the Olympic Games Equestrian Event to be held in Hong Kong in August 2008.
Jumping is one of the three disciplines in the Olympic Equestrian Event. It requires the rider and the horse to clear a series of 10 to 13 obstacles in the prescribed order. The other two disciplines are Dressage (often described as ¡§horses performing ballet¡¨) and Eventing (comprising Jumping, Dressage and Cross-Country).
A prize-presentation was held today (Sunday, April 1) at Kowloon Park to recognise 11 winning designs in the three categories, as well as 91 schools which had five or more students participating in the Competition.
Mr Timothy Fok, President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, was one of the judges and the Guest of Honour at the ceremony.
¡§Judging at the Competition, I was deeply impressed by the passion for Chinese culture, the insight into Hong Kong¡¦s identity, and the embodiment of the Olympic spirit ¡V shown in the vast majority of the entries,¡¨ said Mr Fok.
The winning design in the Professional Category features a bamboo steamer containing dim sum, a favourite delicacy in tea-houses all over China for many centuries. It serves as a common link between Beijing and Hong Kong. And so are the chopsticks that form the horizontal fence. The design was the creation of 22-year-old Mr Yeung Chi-hang, a student in the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
The championship in the Senior Category went to Miss Zhang Shuqi, a 22-year-old student at the Capital University of Economics and Trade in Beijing. Her winning entry, entitled ¡§Flying Horse and Startled Swallow¡¨, is a modern expression of two traditional Chinese motifs ¡V the ¡§knife and horse actress¡¨ in Peking opera, and five ¡§sandy swallow kites¡¨ suggestive of the five Olympic rings. As the Jumping horses leap over the fence decorated by the swallow kites, the action is suggestive of the ¡§horse stepping on a flying swallow¡¨, a famous sculpture produced in the Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago.
The winning entry in the Junior Category, entitled ¡§Hong Kong ¡V the Gourmet¡¦s Paradise¡¨, was from Miss Leung Hoi-ying, a 15-year-old student from Tuen Mun Catholic School. It features a number of Chinese and Hong Kong motifs, such as bauhinia flowers, a teapot-and-teacup set, a pair of chopsticks, and a bowl of noodles suggestive of longevity.
These entries distinguished themselves from a total of 2,093 entries ¡V 1,740 for the Junior Category for youngsters aged below 16; 270 for the Senior Category for people aged 16 or above, and 83 for the Professional Category for professional designers as well as teachers and students of design academies.
The participants also embraced a diversity of nationalities from all the five continents, fittingly reflecting the global nature of the five Olympic rings and the Beijing Olympic slogan of ¡§One World, One Dream¡¨.
The Award Presentation was held at the Arcade of Kowloon Park, right next to the Olympic Countdown Clock which was inaugurated five days earlier, on March 27, at the 500-day Countdown Ceremony.
At the venue was an exhibition featuring the 75 finalist entries. To create another element of fun and excitement, two lovely ponies were brought in to provide photo opportunities for the visitors.
Apart from Mr Fok, the Awards were presented by Mr Lam Woon-kwong, Chief Executive Officer of The Equestrian Company; Mr Benjamin Yung, Principal Education Officer, Education and Manpower Bureau; Mr Michael Lee, Executive Committee Member of the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation, Mr Soenke Lauterbach, Manager, Equestrian Affairs, The Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Mr Chiu Man-ming, Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking Department, Bank of China (Hong Kong). All of these dignitaries served on the Judging Panel in the Competition.
Other judges on the Panel were Olympic Equestrian Jumping Course designers Leopoldo Palacios and Steve Stephens, renowned designers Dr Kan Tai-keung and Mr Stanley Wong; Dr Ronald Lu, President, The Hong Kong Institute of Architects; Mr Eddy Yu, Chairman, Hong Kong Designers Association; Dr Simon Ip, President, Hong Kong Equestrian Federation, as well as three representatives from The Equestrian Company - Mr Chang Wei, Director of Competition; Mrs Nancy Pang, Director of Promotion and Marketing, and Mr Allan Ho, Competition Manager.
Ends/Sunday, April 1, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:33
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