Top riders criticise decision not to send British team to World University Championships

Leading riders have expressed concern that Britain is not sending a team to this year’s World University Equestrian Championships — because the format does not help develop elite riders. Student representative Henry Wormersley-Smith said the decision, by BUCS, not to send a British team this year made no sense. “University equestrian sport is already hugely underfunded, with riders having to provide the vast majority of costs through fundraising. This flies in the face of Britain’s supposed Olympic legacy,” he said. Britain did not win a medal at the last World University Equestrian Championships, at Aachen in 2012, but had previously come home with at least one medal at every event since 1997. William Fox-Pitt said it was a “huge shame” that BUCS was not sending a British university team to this year’s championships. Earlier this edition of the World University Equestrian Championships already got criticized after the organizers decided to limit the competing countries while registrations were already finished. © H&H