UAE team finishes third

abu dhabi — Germany were crowned champions of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup at Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, accumulating six faults across two rounds and beating Ireland into second place.

But the biggest cheers on the night went to the riders of the UAE team whose third-place finish was the best result for the UAE in Middle Eastern qualifying leg. The team has now qualified for the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Finals which will be held in Barcelona in October.

The event, which was the closing class of the five-star President of the UAE Showjumping Cup presented by Longines, was contested by seven teams consisting of four horse and rider combinations and included Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Ireland and Saudi Arabia as well as Germany and the UAE.

Germany finished with the lowest score of six faults, putting them ahead of Ireland on 13 and the UAE and Saudi Arabia both on 18. The UAE crept ahead of Saudi Arabia in the rankings because due to the fact they had a faster time.

Four riders from each team contested the competition which was held over two rounds with the worst score being dropped.

The German team of Philipp Weishaupt, Mario Stevens, Sven Schlusselberg and Miriam Schneider, rode confidently and strongly to pull ahead of closest competitors, Ireland, in the second round.

After the class Wieshaupt, who also won the President of the UAE Showjumping Cup on Thursday, congratulated the UAE team on their best-ever FEI Nations Cup finish. “Every year that I come back here it’s getting more and more difficult to win,” he said. “The UAE team are riding really well and it’s not just these four riders - the UAE has a strong team, great horses, great trainers and the facilities here are fantastic. It’s clear that the UAE has a very bright future in this sport.”

The UAE team, consisting of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, Nadia Taryam, Abdullah Al Marri and Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi were delighted with their third-place finish.