HorseMove Thailand: Nina Ligon named the Winner of the HSBC FEI Rising Star Award 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Nina Ligon named the Winner of the HSBC FEI Rising Star Award 2011

Congratulations to our beloved NINA!!

Nina Ligon

FEI Awards Winner for 2011; (left to right) Adelinde Cornelissen, Nina Lamsam Ligon, Lisa Wells (from Reem Acra), Alice Gaillard, Soraya Ourrais. Photo via fei.org

On 14 November at the FEI Award Gala Evening at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Thai Eventer NINA LIGON was named the Winner of the HSBC FEI Rising Star Award in year 2011.

According to FEI statement, "Nina has become an inspiration for young riders in Thailand and her success and hard work are significantly contributing to the Thai Equestrian Federation’s leadership efforts to develop Eventing, nationally and throughout Asia."

FEI Awards was first launched in 2009, aiming to give out the awards to men, women, young people and organizations that are making an outstanding contribution to the progress and excellence of equestrian sports. There are 5 categories: Best Groom, Against All Odds, HSBC Rising Star, Development and Reem Acra Best Athlete.

Nominations for Best Athlete, HSBC Rising Star, Against All Odds, Development and Best Groom have so far arrived from France, Great Britain, Australia, The Netherlands, Canada, Africa, Italy, Mexico, Germany, the USA, South Africa, Cambodia, Norway, Malaysia, Thailand, Sweden, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Belgium and Ireland.

Read more about FEI awards at www.feiawards.org

Nina Ligon on Butts Leon at the Fair Hill International 2011. Photo Courtesy of Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire.

The HSBC FEI Rising Star Awards is given to a person aged 14 to 21 who demonstrates outstanding sporting talent and commitment. This year, NINA was among the past winners of Rising Star Award, namely, Alex Hua Tian (CHN) in 2009 and Caroline Roffman (USA) in 2010.

NINA is a dual US and Thai citizen, who has competed for both flags as a junior. When she turned 18 two years ago, she elected to represent Thailand. In 2007, at the age of 15, Nina and her horse Pacific Storm represented United States Eventing Association AREA II at the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (Junior Olympics). They had a dramatic & heartbreaking near miss at “gold”, when Nina had a stop and fall at the very last fence. Later that year the pair went on to win the Individual and Team Gold medals for Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Nina became both the youngest rider and the first woman to win an individual equestrian gold medal for Thailand. She was one of 5 finalists nominated for Rookie Athlete of the Year and was named 2007 Thai Rider of the Year. At the Asian Games in China in November 2010, Nina and Chai Thai led the Thai team to Team Silver. They led after dressage and cross-country but one rail down each in the team and the individual show jumping rounds dropped them to 4th place individually. Nina has received two royal medals from the King of Thailand for outstanding service to the country.

In 2010 Nina was named the Best Young Rider (Under 21) in the USA. Currently, to our complete amazement, Nina is ranked # 6 Overall, # 2 Lady Rider, # 1 Young Rider in the USA. She is # 45 on the FEI World ranking list.