World's top riders gear up for show jumping festival in Qatar

This week’s Commercial Bank CHI Al Shaqab presented by Longines, a five-star show jumping event, will be one of many activities lined up at the imposing equestrian arena over the course of next four days, a top official revealed yesterday.

Omar Al Mannai, Event Director of CBQ CHI Al Shaqab presented by Longines, yesterday said top riders Daniel Deusser of Germany, Scott Brash of Great Britain, Edwina Tops-Alxander of Australia, and Qatar’s Bassem Mohammed will headline the seventh edition of the annually-staged show jumping event.

“We started from a much a smaller platform seven years ago. Now we are hosting the CBQ CHI Al Shaqab presented by Longines with a long series of activities during the same week. We will have riders from 23 countries of all five continents. The participating riders total more than 190,” Al Mannai said yesterday at a pre-event press conference.

“There were will be dressage and para-dressage events. The ninth round of the national Hathab Series will also be held during this week,” Al Mannai revealed.

“We also have a youth training camp - the Al Shaqab Internations Camp - for young riders who are here to meet the world’s top names in the business,” he added.

Al Mannai said fan activities will add splendour to the equestrian extravaganza that will be followed by the Global Champions Tour event next week.

“We started on a small platform. But we had plans to give our events a distinctive look. We are confident that this would be the biggest event. We have participants from five continents. There is an overwhelming increase in the number of riders with top ratings. There are 19 riders in the para-dressage class and 17 in dressage,” Al Mannai said.

“As you know we have four Qatari riders also competing here in the CBQ CHI Al Shaqab. On the sidelines of this prestigious event, we will stage the Hathab Series round also. We have our young riders and entries from Kuwait,” he saud.

“Furthermore we have launched the youth training camp. Last year it was mooted that we have a training camp for young riders with the participation of world-class riders. We have entries from 11 countries besides entries from Qatar.

“Such training camps are considered to be key pillars of developing the sport. It already started this week and continue until the end of the Glocal Champions Tour (March 6-8). There will be another competition too for young riders,” Al Mannai said.

Al Mannai said every effort has been made to ensure fans have a blast during this week and the following event at Al Shaqab Arena.

“We will have many events on the sidelines. We will have cultural and entertainment shows. We will have fun shows which means we will have a lot of public activities so the fans can have a good time,” Al Mannai said. “We have to create events to retain the fans' attention. The spectators are encouraged to come. We will hold raffle draws for the public. We have gifts presented by our sponsors and Al Shaqab,” he added. “We hope that the public is satisfied and that they enjoy the event,” he said. “We are in contact with Mowalasat to obtain the necessary means of transport for the public visiting our facility. People who drive down to the event will have special parking zones. Shuttle buses throughout the event will be moving all day from the venue to the nearest Metro station every 10 minutes,” Al Mannai revealed.

Al Mannai said the decision to increase the number of show jumping events in Qatar is paying off handsomely.

“Continuing with these events have helped Qatar riders to improve their performances in local events. We see that they had motivated us to have a fixed league. They have raised the technical bar. The ultimate objective is to have a common goal of producing world-class riders. We want to promote the skills of the riders. We saw during last week’s Amir Sword Festival that the competition was stiff among the riders. Until the last event, we did know who would win. We want to see talent rising to the top at international events,” Al Mannai said.

“Our events have also been used or staged to educate people about this sport. We try to raise the technical bar of the riders, so as to say,” he added.

“As an organising committee, we try our best to provide the top care to riders. We want to give the best care to the horses. The ground has to be really well equipped. As a former rider, I know all riders want these things before they compete. All these things have to be handled by experts. We have Al Shaqab vets with us. They are our partners. It is important to have them with us. The safety and health is a priority,” he said.