CAIRO, 16 November 2007 — Prince Abdullah ibn Miteb completed a golden double for the Saudi equestrian team when he won the individual show jumping gold medal yesterday in the 11th Pan Arab Games in Egypt.
Prince Abdullah and his mount, Ashkur Allah, rode in perfect harmony to win with a double clear on the last day of the three-day competition much to the delight of the Saudi equestrian fans.
The last Saudi rider out on the stadium course, Prince Abdullah was assessed no penalties on the day to pull clear of two Egyptian riders. Teammate Ramzi Al-Duhami placed fourth.
Together with the results on the first two days, Prince Abdullah, who was second behind another Saudi, Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, going into the final day had 11.14 penalty points.
The second-ranked Egyptian rider Karim Al-Zughbi had 13. 44 penalties, well in front of teammate Abdulqader Saeed who wound up third with 14.03 penalties.
Al-Duhami was assessed 22 penalties in the fourth position. The two other riders on the Saudi team, Prince Faisal Al-Shalan and Al-Sharbatly came sixth with 25. 0 penalties and ninth with 29.30 penalties.
According to team officials, Al-Sharbatly had a tough time using his third horse replacement after his first two were injured. The horse was fine but was trained for endurance competitions and hence failed for the individual show jumping.
Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, deputy president of the Saudi Youth Welfare flew in to Cairo from Ismaliah to attend the awards ceremony and boost the morale of the Kingdom riders, who won the show jumping team gold on Tuesday, at the Cairo Stadium’s equestrian field.
Prince Abdullah was pleased with his attendance and thanked Prince Nawaf saying his victory would not have been achieved without the support of his teammates with whom he would like to share his happiness and support.
The prince, who renamed his horse from Obelix to Ashkur Allah (Thank God), said the several competitions he joined throughout the year had helped a lot. In this championship Prince Abdullah thanked veteran Khalid Al-Eid for being there not only as a rider but also as a guide and whose presence brought them a calming effect in the pressure-packed battles.
“One fault was going to put me on second place but I managed to stay calm until the end. Thank God,” said Prince Abdullah who was optimistic while riding the horse he received as a gift from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Prince Nawaf then told a press conference he was glad with the national team’s successes and that it is all because of God’s help and fatherly concern from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah who wanted to make sure his children are all doing well and are not in need of anything.
Prince Nawaf said he had met with the riders and discussed their concerns and hopefully see more of this progress in the future competitions.
