The International Tent Pegging Federation (ITPF) is all set to begin the competitions of the inaugural edition of International Tent Pegging Traditional championship which will begin in Duqm on Thursday.
HH Sayyied Loay bin Ghalib Al Said will preside over the opening ceremony in presence of the ITPF chairman, Mohammed bin Issa al Fairuz, and top dignitaries.
The technical meeting and official draw took place on Wednesday. The three days event will feature participation of 19 countries including: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Iraq, Yemen, UK, Germany, Norway, Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Canada, USA, Sudan, Palestine, Syria, and the hosts Oman.
The organising committee decided on withdrawal of South Africa in line with the directions of Supreme Committee entrusted with undertaking measures to tackle developments resulting from Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the ban of some African countries including South Africa.
Yousef Ali al Hooti, vice chairman of ITPF, said that all the technical and logistics preparations are completed. “The organising committee worked hard during the last period to complete all the preparations ahead of the championships. The competitions venue is ready and the teams and riders began the training sessions. Each team is allowed to have two rounds of training to stand on the final readiness,” he said.
Al Hooti affirmed that during the technical meeting, all the team managers have been informed to strictly follow the preventive measures against Covid-19 pandemic.
“We hope all the teams and riders can fully adhere to the medical protocol measures to ensure the safety of all the participants and organise a safe championships,” he ended.
The championship will feature many events including Individual lance, Pairs lance and team lance (show). The technical system on total score will be based on four runs to be counted for individual and pairs.
Ride out if necessary one run team lance on 2.5 cm peg while Ride out if necessary one run individual lance on 2.5 cm peg. The winning team who will score the highest points in the team’s runs (points are not counted in the overall total).
Oman team will be presented by the riders Hamed al Riyami and Safwan al Mamari. The head coach of the national tent pegging team said that the Sultanate of Oman riders are in full readiness to compete in the top event. “ The selection of the riders was based on some technical requirements. The selected riders showed top performance during the local tournament and we hope to register top points in the championship,” he concluded.
