Jumping to 'noble' challenge

Sheikha Latifa shows huge determination as she becomes the first Emirati to ride on the world's biggest stage.

Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum clears an obstacle on her horse Kalaska de Semilly.

In the words of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai: "Horse riding is more than merely sitting on a horse's back. It is nobility and chivalry." Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum embodies the spirit of those words as she gains ground in the world of equestrian sports. Ranked outside the top 1,000 in show jumping, she has shown grace and gallant to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, where she will be among the 79 riders taking part in the show jumping event.

She is the first Emirati woman to take part in an Olympic equestrian event and only the second Arab lady after Princess Haya bint al Hussein, who took part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Sheikha Latifa qualified for the Games with a brilliant effort on the concluding day of the Qatar International Show Jumping Championship in March last year, clocking 47.72secs in the jump-off to book her ticket. "I was under tremendous pressure in the first two rounds and it is always difficult to perform under pressure," said Sheikha Latifa after qualifying. "It wasn't an easy course, as we saw not many riders get through, but in the end all that matters is the qualifier for the Olympics and I have done it."

Since then, Sheikha Latifa has been training hard with single-minded devotion to give her dreams a shade of gold, silver or bronze. She said she even missedthe Pan Arab Games in Cairo last year to focus on the Olympics. Ibrahim Abdul Malik, the general secretary of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and general secretary of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW), is confident her efforts will pay-off when the individual jumping event starts on Aug 15.

"She has been preparing herself for a long time in France," said Malik. "She has been working very hard and participated in a couple of tough competitions. "She is trying her best to improve her performances. She is working very hard to get a good result." Luck will indeed play a crucial part. For show jumping is not the easiest of sport. It requires rider and horse be in perfect harmony as they clear the tricky obstacles and complete the course, with its many turns and change of directions, in the allotted time.

The rider needs a lot of patience and strength of endurance, for the sport can be physically demanding. He also needs to be one with his ride and show great tact and perfect understanding of the animal, for a refusal by the horse invites penalty points. The sport demands a high degree of preparation, training and readiness. Sheikha Latifa has been equal to the challenge, showing great determination and tenacity as she worked hard with her excellent stallion, Kalaska de Semilly, in France over the last few months. She also competed in a few events in Germany, Holland and Belgium to fine-tune her preparations for the Games. And then, she also has the memories of the team bronze at the 2006 Doha Asian Games to give her confidence a boost.

Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa, the chairman of the UAE Equestrian Federation, has hailed the participation of Sheikha Latifa at the Beijing Olympics. "The UAE is proud of the participation of Sheikha Latifa and other UAE athletes at the Olympics," he told the Government news agency WAM. "We wholeheartedly wish them every success and good luck. "Sheikha Latifa has worked hard, taken the lead and reached a level that is on par with the top riders of the world. It increases our pride that she has done this in jumping, which is known as one of the most difficult forms of equestrian sports."

Sultan Abdulla al Marzouqi, the secretary general of the Equestrian Federation, believes Sheikha Latifa's participation in the Olympics heralds a new era for the sport in the UAE. "We are proud and happy to see the UAE flag fly high at the Olympics equestrian events," he said. "This is a great global sporting event and, whatever the outcome, we are quite satisfied with the progress we have made." Malik believed the outcome could be good, if fortune smiled a little on Sheikha Latifa.

"With a bit of luck, I think she will win a medal," he said confidently. "I believe and I hope that she will get a good result." @Email:[e-mail]