Great performance in UAE show jumping event

Bahrain show jumping team riders had a victorious weekend at Abu Dhabi Show Jumping event, which was held at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Kingdom’s representatives at the event were led by the team’s Captain Shaikh Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa and riders Khalid Al Khatri and Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who collectively showed superb performance by achieving several titles and positions among tough competition. Shaikh Hassan achieved the 12th position in the Medium Tour Final, with his horse HBR Lord McLaren. He continued his good form, which saw him 5th place on his horse HBR Versace in the big tour during the recent National Day Show Jumping Festival in the UAE. Shaikh Isa also had a successful weekend by placing 4th in the 5 and 6 year old class with his new mare Zamzam. His results followed last week’s 3rd place finish in the same class, where he showed an unfailing performance. Mr. Al Khatri rode his horse ‘Bashayer’ to the fastest round in the 130 m on the floodlit grass arena on Thursday night, clocking in at 51.31 seconds. Despite the strong competition in the medium tour contest, he finished with a clear first round, qualifying him to the jump off where he rode 5th fastest time of the night to secure his place in the winner’s lap of honor. Shaikh Hassan and Shaikh Isa managed to finish up in the ranks with confident and solid rounds in the final. Shaikh Hassan had one time fault while Shaikh Isa had one fence down for four faults. The riders made the Bahraini show jumping scene proud with their great results and consistent form. The three Bahraini riders are based in UAE for winter, which followed a long spell in Europe where they trained and competed throughout summer. The riders will train and compete in UAE, continuing their preparations for the upcoming Arab League World Cup Qualifiers, which will kick off next January. The Captain expressed his gladness saying "I’m very happy with our achievements which was the results of our hard training during summer." He added "it is great to have Bahraini riders supporting each other in such international shows. We are also preparing to compete at the Asian Games 2014 in Korea, where we hope to achieve good results for Bahrain." The riders will be competing almost every weekend starting this month until next March.