Muscat, Oct 27
The International Tent Pegging Federation (ITPF) announced on Wednesday that Duqm will host the International Tent Pegging Traditional championship from December 2 to 4.
The Chairman of ITPF, Mohammed bin Issa al Fairuz, announced the details of the global championship in a press meet that took place on Wednesday at Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat in presence of Ahmed al Abri, Secretary-General of Oman Equestrian Federation (OEF), Salim al Balushi, Assistant Secretary-General of ITPF, and Hussain al Fairuz, in charge of youth activities.
The chief of ITPF said that the event will witness participation of many riders representing 20 countries including: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Iraq, Yemen, UK, Germany, Norway, Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Canada, USA, Sudan, Palestine, Syria, South Africa and the hosts Oman.
“ITPF is keen to diversify in their activities and programmes. The International Tent Pegging Traditional championship is the inaugural edition which will be held in early December in coordination with OEF.
The announcement of the world class event came on October 27 to mark the international day of tent pegging. It is a great occasion to resume the physical activities and tournaments after suspension of the sporting activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic during the last period,” he added.
ITPF, which is based in Muscat, hosted many inaugural editions of the championships including the first ITPF world championship in Muscat in 2014. Then, the first edition of ITPF beach tournament was organised in Masirah Island in 2017. In the following year, the first women tent pegging championship took place in Khasab.
Ahead of the international event, a national championship will take place from November 30 to December 1 which will be under the supervision of OEF. “This is a golden opportunity for the local riders to test and evaluate the readiness ahead of the international event. Also, it will be a great chance for the umpires and coaches to enter in the competition mood as well after a long gap of stopping the sporting events due to the Covid-19 crisis,” Ahmed al Abri, Secretary-General of OEF said.
Six teams representing different government units and individuals will attend in the domestic tournament. “A total of six teams from all the government units and individuals will participate in the local event. It is a good rehearsal for the local competitors ahead of the international championship,” the Secretary-General of OEF ended.
The International Tent Pegging Traditional championship will begin from December 2. “The technical meeting and draw will take place on December 1. Also, the riders will get a chance to test the horses ahead of the commencement of the event. Then, all the participants will be busy for three days as tournament days. Many international umpiring and coaching courses will be organised as sideline events,” Al Fairuz commented.
Responding to an inquiry on possibility of increasing the participants and countries, Al Fairuz clarified that this is an inaugural edition of the championship. “This edition of the championship is limited with certain number of riders and horses from Royal Cavalry,” he concluded.
