Kenneth Cheng looks like your average Hong Kong 20-something year old, with short black hair, a lanky figure and youthful pink cheeks. Except that he isn’t.
Born into the world of show jumping (his mother and father both competed back in their prime), Cheng started riding at the age of four and has never looked back.
“Not too many people know that it’s one of the only sports where you’re working with another living animal,” said Cheng. “There’s a harmony that you have to find in order to work together. It’s the connection that you have.”
That instinctive connection and natural-born talent with horses earned him a spot on the Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team, which had him representing Hong Kong at the 2006 Asian Games, 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Asian Games.
“The Olympics were quite an eye opener,” Cheng reminisced. “I was 19 then, and I remember being behind one of the best riders in the world. We had pretty much the same results, but instead of getting a courtesy clap like he did, everyone was cheering extra loud for me. I felt like a little rock star!”
If Cheng thought his reception at the Olympics and Asian Games was big, we can only imagine how the turnout will be when he returns to his hometown for the Longines Hong Kong Masters.
Taking place from 28 February to 2 March 2013 at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Asia’s first and only CSI 5* indoor show jumping event will see the world’s top 25 international riders and horses competing for a total prize money of US$1 million (approximately HK$7.8 million).
Many of the riders at the Longines Hong Kong Masters are those that Cheng looks up to, including the current world number one Christian Ahlmann from Germany and London Olympic Gold medalist Ben Maher from the UK.
“[Show jumping] is quite a tough sport with very long hours,” Cheng said. “It’s very time consuming and
you have to put a lot of effort into it. And, it’s not every time that you’ll come out as a winner.”
Cheng currently trains six days a week in Meeuwen, a small town in the Dutch part of Belgium, leaving him little to no time for any other hobbies. Having lived in Europe since he was 14, he visits Hong Kong about two to three times a year and is still very much a Hong Konger at heart (all of his horses have Dragon in their name, much like one of his most prized horses, Dragon Leon).
When he’s not with his horses, Cheng lifts weight at home, listens to trance music and goes on Twitter to see what the rest of the world is up to. Maybe, just maybe, he’s like the rest of us after all.
(Originally published on LifestyleAsia.com)
