Alex Hua Tian: Team qualification for Tokyo 2020 is astonishing

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China's equestrian event team secured their place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the first time in history, after finishing second in qualifiers in Saumur, France, last week.

The team, led by two-time Olympian Alex Hua Tian, are thrilled for their upcoming Olympic debut, and the 29-year-old told CGTN's Sports Scene that he was astonished by this result, as the team had been through a lot during this difficult qualifying process.

"In the last two Olympics that I've competed in, I've competed as an individual. And last week our Chinese event team were competing in the team qualifiers in France. And we've qualified, which to be honest is astonishing," said Hua.

"In fact, when we had a meeting for Chinese teams qualifying for Tokyo 18 months ago, I was really quite pessimistic about it. Quite a lot have happened in those 18 months, we've had quite a few rule changes and how we will qualify for the Olympic Games. We've had quite a lot of luck."

"Also I've been quite impressed with the strength and characters from my fellow teammates. They've all moved from China, from the domestic circuit over to Europe, trained and practiced for this event. And it's wonderful that we've done it for them as well,” added Hua.