Qatar International Show Jumping: Stage set for three-day championship

The three-day Qatar International Show Jumping Championship kicks off at Qatar Equestrian Federation's (QEF) Outdoor today. 
The annually-staged four-star event will see riders from across the globe and the region as they compete in different classes. 
Riders from neighboring Saudi Arabia will be joined by entries from Australia, Egypt, France, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States besides hosts Qatar. 
The FEI-sanctioned event will be followed by another top-class tournament - the Al Rayyan International Championship from December 29-31, organisers said yesterday. 
Two days ago, the QEF General Assembly held its annual meeting to elect Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah for another four-year term. 
The meeting - that also named a list of new Board Members - was held on Monday in the presence of a delegation from the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC)
The four-year term of the new Board Members will continue until the end of the next Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo in 2020. 
In his opening remarks, QEF President Al Attiyah underlined the support received from H H the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, H H the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and H E Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani, President of QOC, in developing the hugely popular equine sport. 
Al Attiyah said the support of 'QOC has enabled Qatari riders to grab international headlines in recent years'. The QEF President thanked Khalid bin Safar Al Hajri for his efforts to promote equestrian sport in Qatar. 
"We saw our team feature in Rio Olympic this year. That was a great achievement by our riders," Al Attiyah said.
The new QEF board is made up of: Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah as the President, Saeed bin Mohammed Al Shafi as the Secretary General, Sheikh Mohammed bin Nasser Al Thani as Member, Ali bin Youssef Al Rumaihi as Member and Amer bin Mohammed Al Hamidi as Member.