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Tribune News Network Doha The fifth competition of the 12-leg series Hathab will be held at the indoor arena of Al Shaqab equestrian centre on Friday, December 29 and Saturday, December 30. The final competition of the Hathab series of 2017 will see the Small Tour and Open Class action on the opening day, while the second and last day will have the Future Riders’ class, the Medium Tour and Big Tour showjumping action. In the fourth competition, held a fortnight ago, young Awad al Qahtani had underlined his upcoming prowess with impressive horsemanship in the Big Tour. A strong is contest is emerging among the top national riders. Mubarak Yousuf al Rumaihi, Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi, Rashid Towaim al Marri and others have also stood out in the Big Tour class winning titles in the earlier competitions. In the Medium Tour, Hamad Nasser al Qadi, Mubarak Yousuf al Rumaihi, Nasser al Ghazali, Saeed Nasser al Qadi and others have been among the top challengers. They will all be back astride their favourite horses and hope to continue their good show. The Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) and Al Shaqab, member of Qatar Foundation, have forged a new alliance for the equestrian series Hathab which carries a total prizemoney of QR1 million. A total of 12 competitions run from the second week of October 2017 till April 2018. Out of the total twelve competitions, seven will be held at Al Shaqab equestrian centre and five at QEF. The best seven results out of the total twelve will be taken into account and accordingly the winners will be announced for each and every category. Hathab, meaning “Canter” in Arabic, is an initiative of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee. It is aimed at improving the standard of horse riding among Qatari youths while encouraging the involvement of private stables and individual horse owners to grow awareness of horsemanship as part of Qatar’s history and tradition.
