Muscat,(ONA) - Ahmed bin Saif Al-Abri, Secretary General of the Oman Equestrian Federation and Chairman of the Competitions Committee, confirmed that the federation started to put the basic touches to the endurance village in the Al-Wahra area in the Wilayat of Barka, in the Al-Batinah Governorate, which covers an area of 150,000 square meters. Horse entry and exit paths have been determined in addition to drilling, fencing, and sunshades for cooling the horses, as well as other sunshades for veterinary examination, an electric room, a water tank, paving and levelling the land, and survey the tracks of horses for various competitions over a distance of 40 km in cooperation with some government agencies.
Al-Abri said that the federation was chaired by the Chairman of the Federation, the Secretary General and the Treasurer held a joint meeting with officials of the General Directorate of Housing in Al-Masna'a to find out some matters related to defining the tracks and the entry and exit gates of horses in addition to making the path for horses for various races, as well as another track for cars to follow these races.
Al-Abri indicated that the federation is seeking to complete the second phase of the endurance village project during the coming period by building a quarantine zone for horses, stables, a veterinary clinic, guest rooms, internet network and a race display screen in addition to planting the village that will be ready to host any race or championship. This certainly needs double efforts and elaborate work, considering that such a large sporting facility must be fully equipped with facilities and services to provide its services to all in a good way, as it is expected that we will host a number of regional and international tournaments in the coming years.
The Secretary General of the Oman Equestrian Federation stated that the Federation will, during the coming days, make a survey of all schools and centres for horse training in the Sultanate to evaluate them and make special controls for them after they greatly expanded in the various governorates of the Sultanate and became popular with all ages. We focus heavily on the junior and youth age group for various games such as jumping, endurance, tent pegging and speed racing, as these centres and schools are the true nucleus for finding ready jockeys and may be included in the national teams in the future for the representation of the Sultanate in various regional and international gatherings. Therefore, we must work together to find schools and training centres organized with firm and well-known laws and regulations. We are deeply convinced that the owners of these schools and centres will respond positively because we are sure that joint work between us will generate success in the near future.
Ahmed bin Saif Al-Abri, Secretary General of the Oman Equestrian Federation and Chairman of the Competitions Committee, commented that the emergency suspension of all sporting activities and competitions, including equestrianism, undoubtedly had a great impact on sports and athletes, especially equestrian, as all local, regional and international competitions were postponed. We are still awaiting the resolution from the concerned authorities to resume the sporting activity, as we were supposed to host the second international hurdles race last March, as well as hosting the Sultanate’s group of the tent pegging Asian qualifiers, in addition to the local competitions that were cancelled permanently. This will, of course, return the horse and jockey’s readiness to zero after completely ceasing all exercises for various competitions.
(ONA)