CHENGDU - The four-day 2011 China Equestrian Festival will kick off in this capital of Sichuan province on Friday.

Sponsored by the State General Adminstration of Sports, China Equestrian Federation and the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau, it will be the first national equestrian event ever held in a city in the central and western part of China, according to Wang Xuanqing, vice-chairman of China Equestrian Federation.

It will also be the highest-ranking and largest equestrian event in China, he says.

Some 100 athletes from different parts of the country and their horses will partake in five professional competitions ranging from Western equestrian sports such as barrel racing and jumping challenge to Chinese-style speed horse riding and horse basketball competition in the Jinma Racecourse in the Wenjiang district of Chengdu.

Ho Nai Yue, president of the Asian Equestrian Federation, will be the head judge of the jumping challenge.

In the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Chinese equestrian team competed in the Olympic Games for the first time.

China’s equestrian sport started late but has witnessed rapid development, Ho says.

In the Asian Games held last year in Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong province, Chinese athletes won two bronze medals. It was a breakthrough, says the president, adding that riders from China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong are almost on the same level technically.

The Asian-Pacific region will compete fierely for the qualifications for the London Olympics in 2012 in fields such as dressage, eventing and jumping challenge. The 2011 China Equestrian Festival will certainly be a great opportunity for the players to gain confidence and gather strength, the president says.

An important part of the festival will be the 2011 Asian Equestrian Federation Conference that will elect its new leadership, he says.

The next day after the 2011 China Equestrian Festival opens, the Wenjiang leg of the 2011 China Cycling Race will be held in the Wenjiang district where 18 foreign professional teams from the United States, France and Britain and four teams from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taipei will compete on a 90-km circuit.

Wenjiang has been chose as the venue for the 2011 China Equestrian Festival because of its successful holding of the 2010 Jinma Equestrian Sports and Culture Festival, according to Xie Chao, chief of the Wenjiang district government of Chengdu.

His district has renovated six old stables and finished construction of two new ones in line with the standards of China Equestrian Federation. The eight stables can hold 130 horses.

The district has also finished construction of a new lighting training ground in line with the guidance of China Equestrian Federation so that athletes can drill in the evening when it is not scorching hot, Xie says.