Emir’s Sword Festival: Stage set for show jumping and dressage events

DOHA: The Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) has finalised all preparations to stage the much-awaited Emir’s Sword Festival at it’s Outdoor Arena this week, it was announced yesterday.
The QEF yesterday signed sponsorship deals with Qatar National Bank (QNB), Abdullah Abdulghani & Brothers (Lexus) and Al Hazm at three separate press conferences.
The official sponsor of the three-day festival is QNB, it was announced yesterday. Abdullah Abdulghani & Brothers (Lexus) are the gold sponsors with Al Hazm Mall will the silver sponsor, QEF President Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah said yesterday at the press conferences. He was joined by QEF Secretary General Badr Al Darwish and representatives from the three sponsors.
 “This year’s edition will not feature the defending champion Sheikh Ali bin Khalid Al Thani, who won the Emir’s Sword last year. Sheikh Ali and Qatar’s top rider Bassem Hassan are away in Europe competing at top international events,” QEF President Al Attiyah informed yesterday.
“These two riders are battling for FEI Classification points and are out of the country,” he added.
The QEF President added that the QR1m championship will be held over three days starting from tomorrow with the participation of more than 50 Qataris riders.
“We expect a stiff competition among the young riders as this is the Emir’s Sword Festival week,” he said.
Al Attiyah thanked the event sponsors for their ‘support’.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors for their support and contribution towards making this championship a success. We see this championship growing over the years,” Al Attiyah told reporters yesterday.
“Qatar National Bank has as been in partnership with the QEF for several years now. We value their support and hope this sponsorship of this immensely popular championship grows further,” Al Attiyah said.
Salem Al Nuaimi, Acting General Manager at QNB’s Group Communications, said: “We congratulate Mr Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah on being elected President of the Asian Equestrian Federation. We also wish good luck to the participants this week.”
Also yesterday, QEF Secretary General Al Darwish signed a partnership deal with Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros in the presence of their Chief Executive Officer RK Murugan.
“We thank Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros for their generous sponsorship of the main event on our riding calendar - the Emir’s Sword Festival. We look forward to cooperation in the future also,” Al Darwish said. “Without their support, it would not have been possible to raise the standard of the championship to where it is today,” he added.
“We’re pleased to be part of this popular event. We wish all the success to the organisers and to the riders this week. We’re looking forward to some quality action this week,” Murugan said. “We are proud partners of this event,” he added.
Mohamed Abdulkarim Al Emadi, Executive President, Al Hazm Mall, also signed a sponsorship with the QEF President.
“We are proud to be part of this mega event at QEF. We feel it is our duty to support such sports events in Qatar. We at Al Emadi and Al Hazm are feeling happy to be associated with this key event on the show jumping calendar. We hope the riders excel on the field of play and that we get to see some memorable performances over the next three days.”
QEF President Al Attiyah said: “We would like to thank Mr  Mohamed Al Emadi for their support. They have been associated with us in the past also and we value their sponsorship.”