Dubai: The UAE equestrian quartet added three more medals on the penultimate day of competition at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games being held in Athens.
The UAE duo of Sultan Saif Salem Al Khaili and Mohammad Zubair Al Tajjar added two more silver medals while Aisha Saif Al Daheri added a bronze medal of her own at the Games to take the UAE collection to 13 medals in this edition so far.
Al Khaili and Al Tajjar both finished in second place in the men's Working Trails discipline in the equestrian competition on the penultimate day of the Games, while Al Daheri helped herself to her first individual medal by winning a bronze in the CI level Working Trails.
On target
"Three more medals for our team and we are all over the moon," chief instructor and head coach Lilian Sternvad told Gulf News from Athens Saturday.
"This has been an amazing experience and we can hope to add a couple more on the final day," she added.
On Friday evening, Wafa Sulaiman Al Kindi had taken the UAE's medal tally into double figures after her second medal at these Games. Al Kindi, who had won a silver medal in the English Equitation competition earlier last week, bagged a bronze medal in the Working Trail Class for BI riders on Friday.
And later Saturday evening, her team mate Al Daheri finished in third position in the CI class to improve on the equestrian quartet's efforts at these Games that conclude on July 4.
Teamed with Poland
On the final day of the equestrian today, the UAE girl riders will be teamed up with Polish riders since the country does not have two BI riders at these Games.
The UAE's surge for medals in Athens was been led by the track and field and equestrian athletes so far. Reem Hussain Al Baloushi, Khalid Ali Al Hajiri and Mariam Ahmad Al Kayay all bagged silver medals in the track and field events on Thursday to swell the UAE's tally to nine, before Al Kindi made it double figures on Friday evening.
Al Baloushi has taken the silver medal in the boy's 400 metres with a time of one minute, 17.53 seconds, while Al Hajiri had thrown the shot putt to a distance of 11.36 metres and Al Kayay had run the women's 400 metres in a time of one minute, 39.15 seconds to push the UAE tally up.
