SME-Coverage/ Abdullah Al-Harazi
150 riders and 200 horses from 15 countries: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Norway, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary and Switzerland completed the competition in the first round of the FEI Championships, which are being held for the first time. At the Trio Sports Club in Jeddah, which presented a distinguished version of the organization, the Iraqi jockey Zaid al-Nujaifi and his horse Asjan were the final star and champion of the grand prize presented by Saudi Airlines Cargo after rounds of speed, precision and caution with two other jockeys who climbed with him to the competition round, which he finished in a time of 37.11 seconds. Calculating the Italian Gian Luca Gracchio and the horse Musilvia Girl, who recorded a time of 37.35 seconds, while the Hungarian Christoph Hegedus and his horse Carrier Boshoff came third. The winners were crowned by Fadi Badcock, Director of the Revenue Management, in the presence of a large crowd of personalities and businessmen. Al-Nujaifi expressed his happiness at winning and said: To win this. The race has a special place in my mind because it came in front of an elite group of international riders who came to Saudi Arabia from different countries of the world and worked hard to win the grand prize.
For his part, Fadi Badcock described the championship as one of the important sporting events hosted by the Kingdom, which will have a significant impact on developing the level of local riders by giving them the experience they need in international events in the future, stressing that Saudi Airlines has been and will remain an important partner for the sports sector in every field. Its international events.
The French knight, Charles Henry, preceded him to win the Jeddah National Hospital round, as he was best able to challenge the competitors and walk against the hands of time in the penultimate half of the first round of the championship. He succeeded in finishing his round without errors with his horse, Jeanine of the Lowlands, with a time of 61.73 seconds, less than half a second behind the runner-up. One of the most prominent riders of the championship is the Lebanese Tony Assaf and his horse Quincy 230, who also finished third with his horse Big Star, and fourth came the Saudi rider Anas Al-Naimi with his horse Golithia, and in fifth place was the Saudi Abdul Rahman Al-Mutawa with Humertime.
While the veteran Lebanese rider Tony Assaf continued his strong presence in the tournament and succeeded with distinction in adding the tenth round *2csi* sponsored by the National Transport Company, agents of King Long, he added to his achievements by recording a time of 34.98 seconds for a round that included 12 hurdles with a height of 125 cm. He also finished fourth with his horse Nelson D. Royer, the Hungarian jockey Christoph Hegedus came second with his horse Hope of Eros, while the Saudi jockey Hadi Khairy took third place with his horse Levi.
The third round of the Ambassadors *1csi*, sponsored by the flying Arabian horse Winston, was won with the ability of the young rider Abdul Rahman Qahal on the back of the horse Jenny Van Heet after he was able to break the times of the riders who preceded him and recorded a time of 49.18 seconds, leaving second place to the rider Muhannad Al-Dakheel Allah and his horse Vinny Tano. And third is Abdul Rahman Al-Biladi, riding Floris Van Heet.
The closing evening was memorable for the fans who attended the tournament during its three days. They enjoyed beautiful times with folk arts, acrobatic performances, and Hollywood cartoon characters, and with the singing of the promising voice of Asmaa, who sang a number of Arabic and foreign songs. The sound of the deejay band kept the attendees at the tournament site until the morning hours. The first.
The head of the organizing committee for the International Tour of Show Jumping Championships, horsewoman Arwa Mutabaqani, expressed her happiness with the success of the first round and said: During the preparation period, we lived through difficult times to provide all means of comfort for the riders and their horses on the one hand, and for the fans on the other hand, and the focus was on families attending the events accompanying the championships and that Their presence leaves a special memory in the souls that motivates them to attend other events on the one hand, and encourages children to get close to the horse and become attached to it as a noble creature and a fine sport, stressing that the next two rounds of the championship will be distinguished by the activities accompanying them.
