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Oman- Preparations on track to hold the second Tent Pegging World Cup


2016-03-09 12:35:31
(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)
Preparations are on track for the hosting of the second Tent Pegging World Cup which will be held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo from April 11-19 according to Mohammed Issa al Fairuz the president of the International Tent Pegging Federation (ITPF).

Oman had hosted the inaugural edition of the World Cup in April 2014. South Africa had emerged champion while Oman came second and Sudan finished third.

Speaking to Muscat Daily on Tuesday the ITPF chief said 'We are happy with the progress made by the host federation in Egypt for the conducting of the second World Cup. Our technical committee made a recent visit to Cairo and it is satisfied with the arrangements.'

A total of 11 countries including Oman will feature in the championship with ten teams making it to the World Cup after the qualification rounds that were held between August 2015 and January 2016. Egypt qualified as the host nation.

During the three qualification rounds 19 teams competed.

At the first qualification round UK hosts South Africa and Iraq advanced from a pool of six nations at Cape Town in August last year. The second qualification round was held in December in Abu Dhabi UAE and the host nation Australia and India booked their spots from a field of six nations for Cairo.

Mohammed Issa al Fairuz

In the final qualifier held in Khartoum Sudan seven countries fought for the four remaining spots with Sudan Jordan Yemen and Oman making it to the World Cup.

'We had a successful qualification process with 19 countries out of the 28 member nations taking part. We are looking forward to a successful second edition of the World Cup. I am confident that it will be a success' said Fairuz.

Two more nations set to join ITPF

Fairuz said that the efforts of the ITPF to promote the game globally has started to bear fruit with two more nations - Germany and Belarus - applying for membership.

'Our board will decide on their applications and once it is approved the strength of the young international federation will rise to 30' said the Omani official.

'There have also been interest from a few other nations but we have yet to receive any formal letter from them' he said. The ITPF headquarters are based out of Muscat and the world body's chief said that Oman is playing an active role in the promotion of the game.

'Oman has hosted training programmes for riders and coaches in the past and started yet another programme at the Al Rahba Farms in Barka on Tuesday. We have 36 riders and coaches from Germany Belarus the US Saudi Arabia and Bahrain attending the course' he said.

Salim al Balushi is the course director for the five-day event with the concluding day on Saturday scheduled to witness a friendly competition among riders from the visiting five nations and Oman.

Fairuz said that Pakistan which initially was keen to host the second World Cup but later withdrew to make way for Egypt has now officially applied to host the U19 World Cup and the Masters World Cup (for above 45).

A decision on the twin request will be made soon. The ITPF boss said the World Cup in Egypt will be held with new rules with the major change being the reduction of the course length from 100m to 80m.

'This has been done to promote tent pegging in the indoor arena and it was hosted successfully during the qualifiers in Abu Dhabi in December' said Fairuz.

Next move: Approach OCA through OOC

The ITPF chief said the long-term goal is to get tent pegging included in the Olympics though he did accept that it still is a 'long journey'.

'We have a goal but to reach there we will need time and support from various bodies. Our first step is to approach the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) through the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC). We are getting our documents ready and we hope to hold a meeting with the OOC and the OCA officials by the end of the year' he said.



Muscat Daily

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