https://arab.news/4awex
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sport Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal on Saturday crowned British jockey Ben Maher winner of the Longines Global Champions Tour, ending a 15-city tour around the world that ended in Riyadh’s historic Diriyah.
Prince Abdulaziz, who is also president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee and president of Diriyah Season, also crowned the three winners of the Riyadh tour, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Abdullah bin Fahd bin Abdullah, chairman of the Saudi Equestrian Federation, crowned the Berlin Eagles team with the World Champions League title, and the St. Tropez Pirates were crowned the champions of the final Riyadh team tour.
The tournament of 50 jockeys, representing 19 countries around the world, sees competition between the teams.
And in the overall ranking of the championship, the competition was strong between Maher, Belgian Pieter Devos, German Christian Ahlmann, Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and Austrian Max Kuhner to win the competition to gain time and avoid mistakes.
Equestrians from the Kingdom, including Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, Meshary Al-Harbi, Khaled Al-Mabti, Saad Al-Ajmi, and more than 65 male and female riders participated in the accompanying runs that were hosted by the Saudi Equestrian Federation.
At the end of the third day of the championship, the jockeys competed in the ninth run called the Saudi Equestrian Federation run, in which Al-Sharbatly achieved first place with a time of 50:00 seconds in a clean round without errors. Al-Ajmi won the tenth run, called the Equestrian Sports Company for Events run, with a time of 38: 59 seconds in a clean round without errors.
The Longines tour is one of the activities of the Diriyah Season, which has become one of the most important tourist, cultural and entertainment destinations in the region. Diriyah Authority aims to attract more than 25 million visitors annually to this region, which hosts many museums, hotels, shops and restaurants, to be a global destination for culture, leisure, marketing and hospitality.