Abu Dhabi, February 2015 – Double satisfaction for the Qatari team, who won today the Abu Dhabi Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, second leg of the 2015 series: this victory means a double qualification, the one for the final in Barcelona and the single place on offer to countries in Group F for the Rio Olympic Games 2016.
The winning quartet, headed by chef d’equipe Willem Meeus, was composed by Ali Yousef Al Rumaihi (Gunder), Khalid Al Emadi (Tamira IV), Bassem Hassan Mohammed (Palloubet D’Halong) and Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani (Vienna Olympic).
“I am very proud of what my team did today, particularly (Sheikh) Ali who will keep doing special things! There has been some great jumping today… you needed clever horses to do that track, and that’s what ours did, fortunately! – said Qatar coach, Jan Tops – After this, some of our horses will have a rest and two of our riders will go to the Longines FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. We have a 5-star show in Doha next week as well, so others will be heading out there”.
“We can hardly say how we are feeling, the best Arabic team wins the Nations Cup and we qualify for the Olympics which was most important for us! It was a hard job and we put a lot of effort in for this achievement. Jan is number one trainer and we are very lucky to have him. He helps us to prepare our horses well and to have them at their best at just the right time”, added Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani.
Eleven teams, eight in the second round, no double-clears. Having been eliminated, the United Arab Emirates recorded the heaviest defeat in front of their home crowd and, together with Morocco and Jordan, were one of three left out.
Ukraine lined up second, while Egypt got third. After them France, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Germany followed. Italy ended in the seventh position, ahead of the Netherlands.
Abu Dhabi is the only forecast leg of the Middle East, the points have been assigned with Qatar leading with 100, Saudi Arabia also qualified for Barcelona with 80 points, fuelling once again the debate about the fairness of a point system which assigns the same percentages not taking into consideration any distinction regarding the number of events and teams involved on the different leagues. In third position Jordan achieved 80 points, while the United Arab Emirates scored 70.
The series is now stopping for a rest before landing in Mexico, for the third leg in Coapexpan, CSIO4* scheduled from the 23rd to the 26th April.
19 February 2015
