Carlos Lopes Appointed French Para Dressage Team Trainer

Sun, 01/20/2019 - 11:15
Portugal
Carlos Lopes at the 2018 European Junior/Young Rider Championships :: Photo © Astrid Appels

Portuguese Carlos Lopes has been appointed by the French Equestrian Federation as their new Para Dressage team trainer. 

The 51-year old Lopes is a 4* international dressage judge and 5* Para dressage judge. Lopes also serves as captain of the Portuguese Grand Prix dressage team. He is an FEI Young Horse Judge, works regularly as an FEI Technical Delegate and is involved with CDI show organisation in Portugal.

Fanny Delaval, who is the French Technical Advisor for Para Dressage, stated: "We set goals and intermediate goals with a medal in mind at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. For 2019, of course there will be the European Championship in Rotterdam (NED) in August. We build our progress and we try to bring our riders to a high performance level. Today, we are not competitive enough internationally. We are looking for solutions to progress and that is why we have called on Carlos Lopes who has expertise in para-dressage but also in international dressage."

Lopes spoke to Grand Prix replay and said: "We really have an opportunity to get where we want. The horses are good, the Federation follows our project, we must now succeed in showing the riders what to do to progress. We need to put in place a method to bridge the gap between the high level and the Amateur level."

Source: Grand Prix Replay - Photo © Astrid Appels

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