Chinese equestrian rider Alex Hua Tian encountered a setback in the cross-country phase of the eventing competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, resulting in a penalty of 20.6 points.

Combined with his dressage penalties on Saturday, Hua Tian's total penalty score amounted to 42.6 points, causing his ranking to plummet from 3rd to 32nd.

Alex Hua Tian of China competes during the cross-country phase of the equestrian eventing individual competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Versailles, France, July 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

The event took place under clear skies at the historic Palace of Versailles, drawing a large crowd, while the cross-country phase saw several incidents, including falls from competitors from Germany, Ecuador and Portugal, leading to their elimination.

Hua Tian faced a controversial penalty during his run.

Broadcast footage showed a judge unexpectedly appearing in front of obstacle 21B. Hua Tian and his horse Chocs made a sidestep to the left before jumping right over the obstacle. The horse brushed against a flag on the left side of the obstacle, resulting in a 15-point penalty.

China promptly protested to event organizers, but the International Equestrian Federation has yet to issue an official response.

Jia Dapeng, leader of China's equestrian team, told reporters that the team has "reviewed the footage with the technical representatives and expressed our stance". He said that the team, nevertheless, will respect the "rules and results from the federation."

Hua Tian revealed that his horse took a light step to the left before jumping right.

"I think this happened because, unfortunately, there was one of the jump judges running a little bit on the landing side behind. And I think that really distracted Chocs," Hua Tian said.

The other Chinese rider, Sun Huadong, withdrew from the competition due to his horse Lady suffering from swelling in her left foreleg.

Germany's Michael Jung topped the individual leaderboard with a total of 17.80 penalty points, surpassing Britain's Laura Collett, who incurred 0.8 time penalties in the cross-country phase, finishing with 18.30 penalty points.

The eventing competition will continue on Monday with the show jumping phase.