JEDDAH, 1 March 2008 — In one of the toughest rounds thus far in the Arab Equestrian League, Syria dominated the ninth round held in Bahrain last weekend winning four titles out of six and boosting their chances of qualifying for the Show Jumping World Cup to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden April 23-27.
The 12-round series moves to Qatar for the 10th round. After the Qatar round, Syria hosts the last two rounds on March 13 and March 20, which will be held simultaneously with the International Seif Al-Sham Tournament and Al-Wafa International Tournament for Basil (Al-Assad), who died in a car accident in 1994.
Prize money totaling $160,00 is at stake in the Al-Sham event, according to Seif Al-Sham Club Chairman Mohammed Himshou.
The riders battled difficult conditions brought by sandstorm so severe it whipped up clouds of dust in the area.
With near zero visibility and the dust coming hard at the riders’ faces, reddening their eyes, the organizing committee had to stop competition on the day.
Syrian equestrian Yassir Al-Shareif escaped injuries after tripping over the hurdles and falling off his mount in a mishap that marred the event.
Because of the weather, the presidents of the equestrian federations held a meeting with the organizing committee and decided to merge the team jumping event with the grand prize jumping event on the cup of the King of Bahrain on the same day.
Winners of the grand prize King of Bahrain Cup are as follows: first place went to Ali Al-Rumaihi of Qatar with no penalty faults in (85.72 seconds), second to Yassir Al-Shareif of Syria with 4 penalties (04.57 seconds), third place to Fadi Al-Zabibi of Syria with 8 penalties (50.38 seconds), fourth to Ramzi Al-Duham of Saudi Arabia with 8 penalties (52.57 seconds), and fifth to Mohammed Al-Kumaiti of UAE with 8 penalties (54.78 seconds).
The grand prize winner and Asian champion Al-Rumaihi said he did not expect the victory.
However, he added, “ I just told myself I have to work harder and give my best to succeed and thank God I did though the Syrian, UAE and Saudi teams were very strong.”
Al-Duhami said the grand prize was very difficult and he is happy with his horse’s performance despite a mistake in the first round. “I believe the competition will be stronger in the following round in Qatar especially between Syria and Qatar,” he said.
Riders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Iraq and host Bahrain entered the ninth leg of the series.
