ID :
386839
Mon, 11/09/2015 - 21:25
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Bahrain show jumpers claim 5 podiums in UAE

Abu Dhabi, Nov. 9 (BNA): Bahraini show jumpers started their winter season with a bang by claiming 5 podiums in the UAE National show jumping competition of Al Ain. Bahrain team riders Sh Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Sh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Khalid Hilal Al Khatri, and Hamad Fakhrawia took the event by storm and represented the kingdom in the best way possible by dominating the competition from day one. The Bahraini charge started on the first day when Al Khatri won the speed class where he left the field far behind riding the BDF owned Bashayer in a time of 62.87. Sh Isa joined him on the podium in 5th place riding his own mare Zam Zam and finishing in a time of 84.85. The dominance of the Bahraini riders continued on the final day when Fakhrawi raced his new mare Saba to a 5th place podium spot finishing in a time of 46.28 in the two-phase final of the small tour competition. Sh Hassan, the show jumping team captain, saved the best for last as he placed twice in the medium tour final riding his new mare HBR Radio Saint Clair to 3rd place and finished 4th on his super star speed horse HBR Urano to complete a double podium finish for Bahrain in the two phase class. It was a very fast and highly contested competition where Sh Hassan finished the second jump off phase in a time of 24.60 and 24.64. The Bahraini number one fought all the way but Olympic bronze medalist Khalid Al Eid narrowly out paced him by .48 and so did Olympian Mohammed Al Kumaiti by .44. Sh Hassan said ‘I am very proud of our achievement as a whole. All the riders represented the Kingdom in the very best way. We were all great ambassadors to our country and made the red and white flag proud. We have been training hard and this is a fantastic start to our winter season. It was a challenging competition and everyone stepped up. We are preparing for the big international shows in the region where we will be chasing Longines World Ranking points and World Cup Qualifier points as well. Sh Isa added ‘I am happy with my mare and my podium finish. I have had the mare from a young age and I have worked hard on developing her to achieve this result’. Champion Al Khatri said ‘I am very thankful for the support of the BDF. My mare is in great form and I’m very happy to win the class for my country’. While Fakhrawi said ‘this is my first show with my new mare and she gave me 110% to achieve the podium spot. I trained very hard over summer. I’m very happy with the result, and I am looking forward to continuing this success and winning more podiums for Bahrain’. Sh Hassan summarized by saying, ‘first show. Five podiums. Fantastic results and performances all around’. The National team riders are based in the UAE for the winter where they will be training and competing throughout the season in the GCC competitions. The riders thanked BREEF Chairman Sh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Show Jumping Committee President Sh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, their sponsors, and everyone at BREEF for their continued support.

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