In the Central European World Cup League competitors are battling it out for a starting spot at 's-Hertogenbosch. Svetlana Loika from Belarus won the Central European league series which attracted 36 competitors from seven countries - Belarus, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Turkey.
The qualifying rounds visited Lipica (SLO), Nizhniy Novgorod (RUS), Brno (CZE), Moscow (RUS), Wroclaw (POL), Minsk (BLR), Kaposvar (HUN) and Zhashkov (UKR), and the series Final will take place in Warsaw, Poland on 22-23 March.
Points from the Western European League legs are also included in calculating the standings in this regional contest, but only two riders from the Central European series competed at these events. Poland's Katarzyna Milczarek lined out at Odense (DEN) last October, but failed to add to her scoreline and finished fifth on the league table, while the Ukraine's Inna Logutenkova collected four points at the Belgian fixture in Mechelen just after Christmas to slot into equal-11th position.
Loika, who holds 122nd place in the current FEI World Rankings list, has enjoyed a successful year. With her top ride, Gulbis, the 30-year old won the Grand Prix Special at Zhashkov in the Ukraine last April and then earned her first FEI World Cup™ Dressage qualifying points of the 2011/2012 season with a good result at Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia in June. She followed that with another strong outing in Moscow in early September before registering a double-victory in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle on her home turf at Minsk later that month.
She topped the Central European League leaderboard with a total of 48 points which gave her a three-point advantage over runner-up Michal Rapcewicz from Poland who, at 29-years of age, is already an Olympic and FEI World Equestrian Games™ veteran. Russia's Anna Pyrkina finished third ahead of Hungary's Robert Acs in fourth, but at the Final all competitors start on level-pegging once again so the result at Warsaw (22 - 25 March 2012) will be critical.
by Louise Parkes
Photo © www.equestrian.ru
Related Links
Scores 2011 CDI-W Zhashkov
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2012 World Cup Finals & Qualifiers