JEDDAH, 12 December 2007 — Syria pulled the rug from under Pan-Arab Games individual and team champion Saudi Arabia and won the fourth round of the Arab Equestrian League in Kuwait.
A qualifying event for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the league moves to Riyadh for the fifth round after two weeks.
The fourth in a series of 12 rounds attracted 25 riders of both sexes in the show jumping competition. Syrian rider Shadi Ghareeb placed first in 46.05 seconds with no penalties and improved his overall ranking from 14th to 6th.
Arab Games individual show jumping gold medalist Prince Abdullah ibn Miteb of Saudi Arabia did his routine in 47.04 seconds with no penalties to place second. Ahmed Basyouni of Egypt came third with no penalties too after finishing in 55.43 seconds. The fourth placer was Abdullah Al-Marri of UAE, fifth Abdullah Hameed of UAE, sixth Olympic rider Khalid Al-Eid of Saudi, seventh Fadi Al-Zabii of Syria and eighth Ali ibn Khalid Al Thani of Qatar.
Ghareeb told the press as a team they were trying to win this event and supported each other until they managed to lead. The rider was glad they won despite the heavy pressure and the difficulties they faced transporting their horses.
Prince Abdullah said, “Shadi Ghareeb deserves the victory and what matters is at the end two Arab riders will participate in the Olympics regardless of their nationalities.” His teammate Khalid Al-Eid, who announced that he will retire after the Olympics and continue with the team as their mentor, also believed Syria earned the victory.
“We were not riding our best horses, except for two of them. However, the Syrian team were more prepared to win and Egyptian team also have the potential,” Al-Eid said.
Unfortunately, another Saudi rider, Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, who placed ninth in the overall ranking after the previous three rounds, was unable to compete due to injury. During the training here last week he fell thrice from his horse and was brought to a local hospital before being flown to Germany on Saturday for further treatment. Ramzi Al-Duhami, another member of the victorious Saudi team in the Egypt games, said they could now devote their energies on the Arab League and aim for better results against such tough competition as Egypt, Syria, Qatar, UAE and Jordan.
