The 10th leg of the Longines Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour will be held from today at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s (QEF) Indoor Arena. The third season of the equestrian series was halted after nine rounds in March due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
Now with relaxations in place, the organisers – the Qatar Equestrian Federation and Al Shaqab – have decided to conduct the remaining three rounds. The 10th leg will be held today and tomorrow, with the 11th leg slated for next weekend. The final and 12th leg will be a three day affair and will held from August 27 to 29. All the rounds will be held at the QEF’s Indoor Arena to cope with the summer heat.
Hathab Event Director Ali al-Rumaihi said all the precautions have been put in place for the safe conduct of the championship, where no spectators will be allowed entry. However the events will be telecast live on Al Kass TV. Only Showjumping events will be held, with the dressage and Future Riders events being cancelled.
Today, the competition will kick off with Small Tour (100-115cm) at 4pm, followed by individual and team competitions of the Medium Tour (120-130cm) at 6.45pm. Tomorrow, Open Class (115-125cm) and Big Tour (130-145cm) competitions will take place at 4pm and 6.45pm respectively.
There is a close fight for the Big Tour title, with Salman Mohamed al-Emadi (172 points) currently having a slender six-point lead over Nasser al-Ghazali ((166). Mohammed Sultan al-Suwaidi is third with 164, just two points behind al-Ghazali.
The contest is even tighter in the Medium Tour as Ghanem Nasser al-Qadi (178) has only one point lead over Mohamed Khalifa al-Baker (177). Mohamed Hazim Abara with 174 points is third at the moment.
Small Tour is led by Mohamed Nasser al-Qadi (170). Khalifa Abdulla al-Khaldi (168) is at the second spot, followed by Mohamed al-Ghazali who has accumulated 166 points over the nine rounds so far.


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