Doha: This year’s H H The Emir Sword International Showjumping championship will have a strong presence of international riders, an official of Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) informed.
The three-day festival, to be held at the Al Rayyan Main Arena from February 25 to 27, will have riders participating from all parts of the world.
“We will have riders from different European countries taking part besides participants from other countries along with riders from Middle East,” said Hamad Al Athba (pictured), Head of media section for the H H The Emir Sword International Showjumping championship.
“The final list of the riders is not yet ready as Qatar Equestrian Federation is still in the process of accepting entries. The complete list will be available in the coming days,” he added.
Qatar will have a strong presence in the championship with over 60 riders likely to take part.
The hosts will make their presence felt at the championship with the Rio Games-bound team members vying for top honours at the championship. In February 2015, Sheikh Ali bin Khalid Al Thani, Ali Al Rumaihi, Khalid Al Emadi and Bassem Hassan Mohamed topped in the Furusiyya 2015 Series in Abu Dhabi and secured their well-deserved qualifying spot for Rio.
Al Athba said the event has received an upgrade and is now an international championship.
“This year the championship has been accorded international status and is now a CSI5* event, earlier it was just a national competition. Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) officials will be in Qatar for the event,” said Al Athba.
The QEF official said that the change in status of the championship will help the riders to get more mileage and also for the event.
“Points will be awarded to individual riders from the event which will help riders to add to their tally and earn them a ticket for this year’s August Games in Brazil,” added Al Athba.
Al Athba said besides international riders a host of journalists associated with websites especially dedicated to showjumping will be in Qatar to cover the event.
“The media information centre should be ready in the next few days and we hope to have a dedicated website for the event. The media centre will be handy for both the local and international media,” he said.
“Qatar Equestrian Federation is using the social media channels to promote the championship to the social media savvy fans. We have been updating our facebook, twitter and instagram accounts with regular updates about the event,” said Al Athba.
Action will kick off every day at 1.00 clock in two classes.
The Peninsula
