Hathab set for a thrilling finale as riders battle for titles

The final round of the Longines Qatar Equestrian Tour Hathab will be held today and tomorrow at the Al Shaqab, with thrilling battles in store for the overall title. Today, events will be held in Small Tour, Medium Tour and Big Tour with one more round of the three classes scheduled for tomorrow. The Big Tour class is set up for a close finish between siblings Saeed Nasser al-Qadi and his brother Hamad Nasser al-Qadi. Saeed leads the points table with 246 points, with Hamad just eight points behind. A further five points behind his former champion Nasser al-Ghazali and Faleh Swaid al-Ajmi, making the final round an edge-of-the-sear thriller.  What’s interesting is that the fifth-placed rider Mubarak Yousef al-Rumaihi (227 points) and sixth-placed Mohamed Khalifa al-Baker (222) are also in contention for the title.The Medium Tour is also tantalizingly poised with Rashid Twaim al-Marri (251 points), leading Cyrine Cherif (245) by just six points. In third place is Mohamed Saeed Haidan (207), followed by Ghanem Nasser al-Qadi (198) and Jaber Rashid al-Amri (197). The Small Tour is led by Mohamed Jaber al-Nuaimi with 261 points, followed by Mohamed Nasser al-Qadi (230) Mohamed Rashid al-Amiri is third (217).The Future Riders winners have already been decided with Hadi Mansour al-Shahwani emerging champion with 179 points. Jaber Mansour al-Shahwani with 176 points finished second, followed by Barzan Azzam Saleh in third place with 163 points. Hadi has also won the second level of Future Riders class with 194 points, with Maryam Abdel Karim (182) second and Sultan Motassour Hassan (104) third.Omar al-Mannai, Vice President of the Higher Organising Committee of Longines Qatar Equestrian Tour Hathab and Commercial Director of Al Shaqab, was pleased with the success of the fifth edition of the popular series, which is jointly conducted by the Qatar Equestrian Federation and Al Shaqab – a member of Qatar Foundation.“The event has been a huge success,” said al-Mannai. “All the rounds have witnessed a high level of competition by the riders and horses. Also, several promising riders have emerged through Hathab and they will only get better with experience,” he added.Al-Mannai predicted the next season of Hathab will be one of the strongest. “We have already started preparing for the sixth edition of Hathab and are finalising the schedule keeping in that the dates won’t clash with FIFA World Cup Qatar. There are plans to start Hathab in August, taking into account the delays that will happen in the year because of Qatar hosting the World Cup. Raising the technical level of riders and horses and finding sponsors, whether those have been with us before or finding new sponsors, will be our objective,” al-Mannai said.The grand finale of the Hathab will be filled with fabulous activities for children, including henna and face paintings, bouncy castles, table football, table tennis and PlayStation gaming. Admission is free for the spectators.