UAE favourites to win world title

The UAE endurance team will start off as firm favourites to lift the only international title that has eluded them in the recent past & -the World Endurance Championship.

The team will be under the guidance of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence.

Having won the European Open Championship team gold twice in succession in 1999 and in 2001, the UAE will be looking to make up for the narrow miss in the last World Endurance Championship in Compeigne, France when the gold slipped out of their hands when one of their team riders was eliminated in the final stage.

The Endurance Championship is part of the World Equestrian Games (WEG) and will be held on September 16 in Jerez, Spain with the world's top equestrian athletes in attendance.

Apart from Endurance the other world championships to be held in Jerez during the September 10-22 World Equestrian Games are the Showjumping, Dressage, Driving, Three-day event in Vaulting and Reining.

The Endurance championship will be held at the Garrapilos facilities about 17kms from Jerez and the event will be over a distance of 160kms. Each national federation can enter six riders with four of them taking part in the team event and all six vying for individual honours.

The UAE riders have dominated the international endurance circuit over the last five years and capped it with a golden double in Peruggia, Italy last September.

In Jerez, the UAE's toughest challenge is likely to come from hosts Spain, the US, France, Australia and Germany.

The UAE team of six is yet to be announced but most of the UAE riders have been training in competitions held in Europe after the end of the UAE season.

Riders from the UAE have won the FEI World Cup, the European Open Junior individual gold, the European Open junior team gold and have twice dominated the European Open team event.

Jerez, Spain is likely to complete their title hunt as only the World Endurance Championship trophy is yet to adorn the UAE showcase.

With their strong performance in the last European championship, the UAE will be starting off as favourites and are likely to extend their domination at the highest level.