ATHENS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Team Norway won the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Division 2 Final which was held at the Olympic Horse-Riding Center in Markopoulo on Sunday during the Athens Equestrian Festival.
Norway, with 0 faults in the two rounds, made the cut to the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona in October and carries the added bonus of a final team qualification place for the Tokyo Olympics. Portugal finished second on four faults and will join Norway in Barcelona, while Poland was third on a total of eight.
Eight teams participated in the Nations Cup: Portugal, Poland, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
A total of 13 countries with 90 athletes and 150 horses took part in the four -day Athens Equestrian Festival 2019 that kicked off on Thursday 25. After the 2004 Olympic Games, the world's elite jumping riders returned to Markopoulo reviving Olympic moments and offering an extraordinary spectacle to the audience.
"It is nice to see so many people again in sports after the Olympic Games. Such events should happen every year," Nikos Anagnostaras, 70 years old, explained to Xinhua.
Greek rider Nikos Drougas stressed that such events should be organized more often since there are adequate facilities. "It is better for the maintenance of the place, we have Olympic-size facilities to host such events even twice a year," Drougas noted.
