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Melanie Ho

Hong Kong rider on course to reach finals after another fine show
Patrick Lam's dream run continued in the showjumping at Sha Tin as the Hong Kong rider had just two jumping faults in last night's second qualifier. The result means the 25-year-old, riding Urban, makes the third individual qualifier.
While Hong Kong did not advance to tonight's team final - they finished 15th out of 16 - Lam said he was thrilled by his performance. 'My dream was to go to the Olympics,' said Lam, who finished tied for 22nd. 'This is more than I ever expected.'
Should Lam place among the top 35 individuals tonight, he will advance into the first of Thursday's two rounds. The individual showjumping medals will be awarded on Thursday night, bringing the Olympic equestrian events to a close.
Looking forward to tonight, Lam said he merely wanted to survive.
As soon as Lam entered the arena, the crowd waved Hong Kong flags and could not wait for their team to get started.
'When the crowd helps you, it's like [having] wings,' Lam said.
Unable to stop beaming and confessing he felt like he had not awakened from a dream, Lam could not have asked for a better round.
'Two faults for me is like a clear round for [German] Ludger Beerbaum,' Lam said.
The other two Hong Kong riders did not fare as well as Lam, although they were pleased with the experience and anxious for more.
'Every rider goes into the ring hoping to do better [and] I rode into the ring feeling quite confident,' said Samantha Lam, who finished with 29 penalties last night. 'I tried my absolute best, Tresor tried his best. It wasn't meant to be today.'
Kenneth Cheng Man-kit finished with 21 penalties and neither he nor Samantha Lam advanced in the individual competition.
One of the bigger dramas last night involved Germany, who just managed to scrape into the team competition, tying for eighth place with Australia. '[It's a] big shame the team didn't have better results,' Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum said.
The Germans went into last night's competition in 12th place as their strategy had been to treat Friday's first round as more of a training exercise. Asked whether the plan was working, Michaels-Beerbaum said that it 'obviously doesn't look like it does'.
Leading the way into tonight's team medal competition are Switzerland and the United States, who finished tied on 12 penalties each.
'I have the best riders here, the best horses here,' Swiss chef de mission Rolf Grass said. 'We worked very hard for the Games.'
The  course proved difficult for many riders, with the first rider to jump clear without any time penalties being Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Ninja) after two hours of competion.
After his teammates erred, Canada's Eric Lamaze (who is now tied for first in the individual competition with America's McLain Ward) knew he needed a clear round with Hickstead.
'There's no more room for mistakes and this is such a good horse to be in that situation on,' Lamaze said.
With Sweden in third and Great Britain and Canada tied for fourth, Ian Millar, 61, predicted his Canadian team could move in tonight's final standings.
'Mac [Cone] and Jill [Henselwood] are very hard riders and I guarantee they'll clean it up,' Millar said. 'Eric ain't going to miss, I'm not going to miss. See you on the podium.'



Lam wows the crowd again