RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sport Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal on Saturday crowned British jockey Ben Maher winner of the Longines Global Champions Tour, ending a 15-city tour around the world that ended in Riyadh’s historic Diriyah.
Prince Abdulaziz, who is also president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee and president of Diriyah Season, also crowned the three winners of the Riyadh tour, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Abdullah bin Fahd bin Abdullah, chairman of the Saudi Equestrian Federation, crowned the Berlin Eagles team with the World Champions League title, and the St. Tropez Pirates were crowned the champions of the final Riyadh team tour.
The tournament of 50 jockeys, representing 19 countries around the world, sees competition between the teams.
And in the overall ranking of the championship, the competition was strong between Maher, Belgian Pieter Devos, German Christian Ahlmann, Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and Austrian Max Kuhner to win the competition to gain time and avoid mistakes.
Equestrians from the Kingdom, including Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, Meshary Al-Harbi, Khaled Al-Mabti, Saad Al-Ajmi, and more than 65 male and female riders participated in the accompanying runs that were hosted by the Saudi Equestrian Federation.
At the end of the third day of the championship, the jockeys competed in the ninth run called the Saudi Equestrian Federation run, in which Al-Sharbatly achieved first place with a time of 50:00 seconds in a clean round without errors. Al-Ajmi won the tenth run, called the Equestrian Sports Company for Events run, with a time of 38: 59 seconds in a clean round without errors.
The Longines tour is one of the activities of the Diriyah Season, which has become one of the most important tourist, cultural and entertainment destinations in the region. Diriyah Authority aims to attract more than 25 million visitors annually to this region, which hosts many museums, hotels, shops and restaurants, to be a global destination for culture, leisure, marketing and hospitality.
Saudi sport minister crowns Ben Maher winner of Longines championship
https://arab.news/9xnx6
Saudi sport minister crowns Ben Maher winner of Longines championship
Guardiola delivers speech in support of Palestinian children
- Star Manchester City manager wore keffiyeh at charity concert in Barcelona
- They have been ‘abandoned’ because ‘those in power are cowards’
LONDON: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola delivered a speech in support of Palestinian children at a charity concert in Barcelona, calling for greater action to protect them.
The star manager, 55, wore a keffiyeh and spoke passionately about his pain at seeing the suffering of Palestinian children, Sky News reported.
“Good evening, salam alaikum, how wonderful,” he told the crowd. “When I see a child in these past two years with these images on social media, on television, recording himself pleading ‘where is my mother?’ among the rubble and he still doesn’t know it.
“And I always think, ‘What must they be thinking?’ And I think we’ve left them alone, abandoned.” He added: “I always imagine them saying, ‘Where are you? Come help us.’”
Guardiola said “even now, we haven’t done it,” because perhaps “those in power are cowards,” adding: “They basically send innocent young people to kill innocent people.”
He demanded a “step forward” as part of what he described as a “statement for Palestine and … a statement for humanity.”
