Saudi Arabian riders stamped their supremacy
in the Pan-Arab Championships
of the fifth Qatar International Showjumping Championships
at Rayyan Park on
Saturday.
Khalid
al-Eid rode Al Riyadh to a stupendous victory even as his
Saudi
compatriots picked up the first four spots in the top-10 of
the three-day
event.
Al-Eid accumulated just 1.52 points as penalty while Kamal
Bahamadan on
Meatloaf was a distant second with 3.58 points. In third place
was Abdulla
al-Sharbatli on Mulligan while Ramzy al-Duhami who finished
second in the
Farewell Open earlier was in fourth position on Al-Bateeh.
Ibrahim Bisharat of Jordan was fifth on Qwinto.
Qatar's
Ali Yousef al-Romaihi finished fifth on Corona while Sheikh
Ali bin Khalid on Francesco Di Giorgio was 10th.
Al-Eid's superb show left his contenders with no room to manoeuvre
and they
were hardpressed to match his tally. "My score was too
good. I was keen not to commit too many errors. My horse was
excellent and took all the leaps
clearly," said al-Eid.
The other contenders conceded defeat and acknowledged Al-Riyadh's
prowess in
clearing the hurdles effortlessly. "His horse was perfect.
It is a speed
horse but performed with élan," said second-placed
Bahamadan.
So good was Al-Riyadh that no penalties were registered against
the champion
in the second and third contests.
"When a horse is in that form it becomes difficult to
match the time," said al-Sharbatli.
