IRELAND has been awarded an individual quota place in dressage at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

The FEI confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, almost two months after the Olympic race for individual quota places ended, which countries had obtained one of 15 individual slots, with Ireland chosen alongside Norway in Group A.

The other qualifying nations are: Luxembourg, Switzerland, Lithuania, Moldova, Brazil, Ecuador, Morocco, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Palestine, New Zealand, Singapore and India (India’s place being for the highest ranked country not yet qualified).

The place was awarded on the basis of Olympic ranking points, and all is to play for over the coming months with a pool of strong combinations to choose from.

Anne Marie Dunphy, Horse Sport Ireland’s Dressage High Performance Director, was thrilled with the news.

“I’m delighted to receive confirmation of our individual place for Paris, it’s great news for our athletes and for Irish Dressage,” she said.

“We have a number of strong combinations in the running and I’m looking forward to seeing them compete at key events in coming months. A close selection contest makes everyone work harder to achieve a higher level and that’s what I want to see. It’s all to play for.”

Mark Ruddock, chairman of Dressage Ireland, was equally enthused.

“Dressage Ireland is delighted and excited that we have an athlete going to Paris along with our Para riders,” he said.

“It’s great for our members to have a rider to support and for our younger members to have something to aspire to.”

Teams

With regard to teams, 45 combinations will represent their country on 15 teams of three riders.

Countries that have qualified as teams are France, Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Holland, USA, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Canada, Australia, Portugal and Finland.