DOHA: For Qatar’s premier rider Sheikh Ali bin Khalid Al Thani (pictured), riding at Al Shaqab ‘never feels like a pressure situation’.
Sheikh Ali will be joined by defending champion Bassem Mohammed and youngster Hamad Nasser Al Qadi at this week’s final round of the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) round at Al Shaqab Arena.
“I love this sport. I love competing. So it’s no pressure to be competing at home, in front of my fans,” Sheikh Ali said yesterday.
“It is a good kind of pressure as it makes me do well.”
Sheikh Ali said Qatar riders arrive for events well prepared.
“We always prepare well for home events. This season was very good. We had a lot of top horses. We could have done better but we are happy with the results we got. We had a podium at the Games,” he said.
“We have been riding well for the last few years. We have grown significantly. This is good for us. We are very proud to have the event here. We would like to win the event again,” he said.
When asked about his aims at the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, Sheikh Ali said Qatar’s riders are getting decent exposure to aim high.
“For sure, our young riders are competing and riding well. Some are competing at LGCT and other top event across Europe. It is important for any rider’s development,” Sheikh Ali said.
“Our young riders are getting the right exposure. They are moving steadily. As you know we have events at home also. We do well as Nations Cup. Eventually all of this preparation will lead us to aim for Olympics and other top events. We are committed to backing the young riders,” he said.
Meanwhile, LGCT and GCL Sport Director Marco Danese predicted another nail-biting climax to the season ahead of the new GC Playoffs in Prague in December.
The winner of the LGCT Grand Prix of Doha will take the last qualifying spot for the LGCT Super Grand Prix at the Playoffs. And the top 16 teams in the final overall ranking after Doha will go through to the GCL Super Cup at the Playoffs.
Danese said: “As always we have a lot of riders fighting for the podium in the final and we have actually have seven riders, (Alberto) Zorzi, (Harrie) Smolders, (Daniel) Deusser, (Scott) Brash, Nicola Philippaerts, Edwina Tops-Alexander and Christian Ahlmann competing for the second and third place on the podium so I think its very interesting and I think that the decision is always at the last jump of the jump off.
“It was an exciting season with a lot of winners, of course the regular season is dominated by London and Valkenswaard, they are fighting for the first and the second place. But we have five teams competing for the third place so the battle is open of course for many teams and this is really interesting.
