Qabil fails to deliver in jumping event

THERE was no double joy for rider Qabil Ambak in equestrian as the seasoned campaigner settled for 13th spot in the individual jumping event.

The 38yearold Qabil, riding on a different horse 3Q Qalisya, failed to deliver as he picked up a total of 21.17 penalty points from yesterday’s fiveround finals at the Jakarta Equestrian International Equestrian Park.

With that, last year’s Kuala Lumpur SEA Games bronze medallist finished 13th out of 68 competitors.

Last week, he rode on Rosenstolz to win a silver medal in the individual dressage freestyle 1 event.

Qabil, who made his Asiad debut at the 1998 Bangkok Games, has won a medal in jumping discipline only once when he teamed up with brother Quzier Ambak, AlMohdzar brothers – Syed Omar and Syed Zain to win bronze at the Busan Games in 2002.

That was also Malaysia’s sole podium finish in the jumping competition.

Team manager Syed Omar Syed Abu Bakar AlMohdzar said it was a commendable show from Qabil considering he was up against a worldclass field of competitors.

“It’s not easy to go as fast as the Olympic level riders,” said Syed Omar.

“We qualified two riders for the individual finals and Qabil banked on his experience to give a decent show.

The other Malaysian rider Sharmini Christina Ratnasingham, who is the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games champion, was eliminated after the first round and finished 38th.

Ali Alkhorafi of Kuwait proved he had the best horse of the day in 11yearold Cheril, riding to the gold with just 1.06 penalty points.

Ali Althani of Qatar (2.02) claimed silver while 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Razy Hamad Aldhuhami of Saudi Arabia came in third.

Meanwhile, Malaysia finished a commendable ninth place out of 17 nations, the bestperforming SouthEast nation at this Asian Games in the team event on Wednesday.