SHOWJUMPING ENTERS A NEW ERA IN TOKYO
Jumping will have a new look at the 20th Asian Games, with a second individual title added to the programme as 46 combinations from 15 nations prepare to compete at the JRA Equestrian Park in Japan’s capital.
For the first time at an Asian Games, two separate individual jumping competitions will be held alongside the team event.
The existing individual competition, Group A, will be contested at 1.45m in the first round and 1.50m in the final, while the newly introduced Group B will be decided over 1.55m courses.
Each athlete may compete in only one of the two individual competitions.
The change follows a proposal from the Asian Equestrian Federation to raise the level of the sport at the Games. The Olympic Council of Asia opted to retain the existing competition while adding a new higher-level individual event, giving the 2026 edition three sets of Jumping medals for the first time.
Saudi strength returns
The new format arrives with one nation having set the standard for the discipline at the Asian Games for much of the past two decades.
Saudi Arabia has won team gold at four of the past five editions of the Games, taking the title in Doha (QAT) in 2006, Guangzhou (CHN) in 2010, Jakarta (INA) in 2018 and Hangzhou (CHN) in 2023.
Two members of the victorious Hangzhou team return in Tokyo: Ramzy Al Duhami and Abdulrahman Alrajhi. Both bring considerable Championship experience, having helped Saudi Arabia to team gold in Hangzhou before reaching the individual final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where Al Duhami finished 11th and Alrajhi 13th. Al Duhami is also a London 2012 Olympic team bronze medallist, underlining the depth of experience in the Saudi line-up.
They are joined by Khaled Almobty, who also competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, giving Saudi Arabia three riders with recent Olympic experience. Al Duhami with Untouchable 32 and Alrajhi with Lorenzo ES will both contest the new higher-level Group B, while Almobty and Diana du Plevau Z are entered for Group A.
A new title up for grabs
Several proven Championship combinations are among those entered for the 1.55m competition.
One of the strongest recent championship records belongs to the UAE’s Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Enjoy de la Mure. Al Marzooqi took individual silver at the Asian Games in Hangzhou before finishing 19th individually with Enjoy de la Mure at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They returned to top-level competition in Aachen this summer, finishing 13th individually at the FEI Jumping World Championship.
Japan’s Taizo Sugitani and Quincy 194 will also contest Group B on home soil. One of the most experienced athletes in the field, Sugitani has competed at seven Olympic Games and eight World Championships and won the inaugural FEI Asian Championships individual Jumping title in Pattaya (THA) in 2019.
He returned to the same venue in 2025 to help Japan claim team gold at the second FEI Asian Championships, producing three clear rounds with Quincy 194.
Japan’s Asian Championship success adds another layer to their home campaign in Tokyo, where Sugitani is joined by a duo with significant international experience. Eiken Sato is a three-time Olympian, having represented Japan at Beijing 2008, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Koki Saito brings Games experience from Tokyo 2020 where he finished 13th, giving Japan a trio with a wealth of major-championship experience.
Continental medallists set for Tokyo
Two members of the FEI Asian Championships 2025 individual podium are among the entries for the Jumping competition. Kuwait’s Ali Al Khorafi, who claimed silver in 2025 with I and individual gold at the Asian Games in 2018, will now compete with Inshallah. Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Chi Lin is listed with Driss de Kerglenn - the combination that won bronze in 2025, which was also their first major senior championship medal.
Back on Olympic ground
The competition will return to the JRA Equestrian Park in Tokyo, the venue that hosted Olympic Jumping at Tokyo 2020.
There will also be a familiar face behind the courses. Dutch Level 4 Course Designer Louis Konickx has been appointed Course Designer for the Asian Games, five years after serving as Technical Delegate for Jumping at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Konickx has extensive experience at the highest level of the sport. He designed the Jumping courses at the FEI World Championship in Herning in 2022 and has worked at major international Championships and five-star events around the world.
His role in Tokyo will be particularly significant under the new Asian Games format, with courses required for the team competition as well as two individual competitions at different levels.
The Jumping programme begins with the team competition and medal ceremony on 1 October. The first rounds of the two individual competitions follow on 3 October, before the final rounds and the crowning of both individual champions on 4 October.
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Photo by Baroness Ludwiga von Korff
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