Dutch Chef d'Equipe Sjef Janssen officially announced today that Laurens van Lieren will be the fourth team member of the Dutch team that is going to compete at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.
Two riders were up for the fourth spot, Kirsten Beckers and Lauresn van Lieren. A head to head dress rehearsal competition was organized in Schaijk, The Neherlands, yesterday in which Kirsten Beckers placed ahead of Van Lieren. Janssen, however, decided to select Van Lieren for the team based on his 2006 show results and latest winning performance at the CDIO Hickstead.
"Van Lieren has performed better than Beckers at all shows since the 2005 Dutch Dressage Championships. For me, Olright just had to prove that he's back in shape after his injury and that he can improve his level of competition compared to the condition he showed at the European Championships," Janssen told the Dutch Equestrian Federation.
Laurens van Lieren will be joining Anky van Grunsven, Edward Gal and Imke Schellekens in the race for the team gold at the World Equestrian Games.
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