We want Qatar’s riders to be internationally ready, and their foundation strong through Hathab: Ali Al Rumaihi

Tribune News Network Doha An Olympian, twice Asian Games rider with a team gold, and a participant at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, Ali bin Yousef Al Ru...

Tribune News NetworkDohaAn Olympian, twice Asian Games rider with a team gold, and a participant at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, Ali bin Yousef Al Rumaihi, now Secretary-General of the Qatar Equestrian Federation and Event Director of Longines Hathab -- Qatar Equestrian Tour, is a man with a lot of experience both as an athlete and as an administrator. Al Rumaihi has been working hard to ensure the flawless conduct of Hathab shows and also the growth of equestrian riders in Qatar.At the completion of Round Six of the annual 14-leg Hathab series, the 40-year-old opined on the progress of the Tour and his impressions.Excerpts:Growth of ridersI am really happy to see that the riders are stepping up to the challenge and taking care of their horses. Even in the Big Tour of the sixth round there were no clear winners as the course was tough as also the heights are going up every show. Also, it depends how many riders, like in this case there were 20, that also makes us think and design the course accordingly. The course designer speaks to us and then we see how riders and horses, the level of the horses that are entering the competition -- so we try to make it fair for all as well as challenging enough. The riders are indeed trying hard and that is glad to see.Riders’s advance planningThat’s the point of giving them so many shows and classes, timing the whole schedule before starting the season so that they can plan whether they are going to buy new horses or they have their own. How to build their horses or plan and strategise how I can win which classes. A proper schedule in advance helps them and us also to plan things.We also do orientation before the season to get feedback from the riders, what they are thinking so that we can help them through the season.Through these five years we can see that the riders are learning a lot, some of them are making schedule for their horses, Medium Tour Big Tour... We are glad to see the riders learn these nuances and plan these things.Strong foundationWe need to have this strong foundation, we are building a good stock of riders for the future who can excel at international competitions and the Asian Games and Olympics.Hathab is a place where they must plan and learn good, improve good on their skills and basics inside the arena, this is what have been aiming, this is what we are now getting to see and this what we want.Hathab is also conducted under all FEI rules, this helps our riders to know things and be internationally ready. For example, if we have turn this Hathab arena into an international show, we just have to get the international judges... so the detailing is that fine..Everybody has been putting a lot of effort not just the riders and the horses, every one involved in making Hathab spectacular and perfect deserves credit.Hathab live on TVLast year when Covid struck during Hathab, I was attending an FEI meeting and all the attendees said Bravo... Fans from all our neighbouring countries were watching Hathab on the television. They wondered how we could do it in such a short time and so perfect. They loved the coverage. Normally, there are no equestrian national shows live on tv, we did this to take the sport closer to the fans, also for the riders to know that they are being watched, for their families to see their kids participating. And now it has become such a part that everyone is loving to watch the action, so we don’t want to stop it. We only want to improve Inshaallah!