Improving bond with horse has boosted Ahmad Imtaz’s SEA Games chances
KUAL A LUMPU R: The improving bond between Ahmad Imtaz Amir Hamzah and his horse, ‘Ruibin Royal’ has boosted the rider’s hope of qualifying for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
After partnering ‘Warmbloods’ breed about six months ago, the 29year- old from PRTC Equestrian club now has a better relationship with the horse enroute to the biennial games.
Ahmad Imtaz who was part of the 2015 Singapore SEA Games show jumping si lver medal winning team, is now eyeing to improvise his performance to achieve 65 per cent marks in the dressage.
In the Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis Challenge Cup and 4th Round SEA Games Qualifiers at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort ( BKECR) yesterday, Ahmad Imtaz finished second in Class D7 after scoring 62.85 per cent.
First place was won by Toh Puan Zulaikha Sheardin ( 63.42 per cent) while Siobhan Beatty ( 58.55 per cent) took third place but both are not in the running for the SEA Games qualifying.
“At the moment focus is to get 65 per cent or more...Today we were close to that, will try again in the next two qualifying rounds. Initially my partnership with ‘ Ruibin Royal’ failed to gather the necessary points.
“Then we went to Putrajaya for Malaysian Open and scored about 60 per cent. Now we are getting better and hope to qualify for the SEA Games,” he told Bernama after the prize giving ceremony here yesterday.
The next qualifiers is scheduled at Ipoh after two weeks, while the last round is expected to take place at the 3Q Equestrian Centre in Rawang.
Meanwhile, in the show jumping discipline, State Terengganu Endurance Team’s ( STET) Amira Syahirah Mohd Zulkefli secured her first podium in the qualifier series after finishing first in the SJ10 class. Riding her horse ‘ Wachinta’, Amira Syahirah clocked 73.39 seconds in the first round and 54.79s in the second round, incurring one penalty.
Natasha Wah Idris of BKECR club, who had also incurred one penalty, finished second after recording 73.40s and 55.47s, followed by Daniel Chen of 3QE club, who recorded 75.04s and 55.35s with two penalties.
In the SEA Games equestrian events, dressage is scheduled from Aug 22- 24 whi le show jumping is from Aug 26-28.
In the Singapore SEA Games, the national equestrian squad ended their outing with one gold in the show jumping individual event , a si lver in the team jumping and a bronze in team dressage. — Bernama