Samantha Lam won the FEI World Cup-Premiere

Hong Kong Olympian Lam, riding the borrowed horse called Double Bender, provided by the organisers, held her nerve in an eight-way jump-off to win the first-ever jumping competition held on the mainland under the auspices of the International Equestrian Federation.

But it might turn out to be a pyrrhic victory as Hong Kong is part of the South East Asian League and not the newly constituted China League. As such Hong Kong riders were considered as “extras”.

“Historically, Hong Kong has belonged to the South East Asian League because there has never been a China League,” Hong Kong Equestrian Federation secretary Sacha Eckjans said. “But logically Hong Kong belongs to China and we have asked the FEI to reconsider this.”

Lam, 33, will be hoping the move by the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation, along with South Korea and Taiwan, bears fruit as she hopes to repeat her 1996 feat when she became the youngest female rider to take part in a World Cup final. At the time she was representing Canada – she was born in Vancouver although her parents are from Hong Kong.

“This is the biggest win in my career as it is a World Cup qualifier. I hope these points will count towards the World Cup final,” Lam said.

Eckjans said: “Hong Kong plus two other federations, South Korea and Taiwan, have applied to be part of the China League. The FEI jumping committee will meet in Lausanne [today] to decide and we are hopeful they will agree with us.”

Fellow Hong Kong Olympian Patrick Lam (no relation) will also be keeping his fingers crossed as he finished fourth on Sunday.

Patrick Lam too made it to the jump-off but could not match Samantha Lam's double-clear rounds.

Beijing will host two more legs – next month and in October. The rider with the highest points aggregate will take part in the World Cup final in the Netherlands next year.

Both Lams, as well as Hong Kong's other rider, Raena Leung, will take part in the other two legs.