Abdulrahman Al Nemr emerged as a new young star in the making when he outclassed an experienced field to win the Al Shira’aa Horse Show’s competition against the clock contest.
The Saudi Arabian schoolboy, 15, rode a flawless round of the course on Beverly Girl to triumph in Wednesday's action at the Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Abu Dhabi.
“I have won a few international prizes but this is the biggest, being a CSI 4-star event,” Nemr said after clocking the fastest time of 51.12 seconds.
“This win was made even better because there were a lot of experienced riders and horses that I had to compete against. It was very challenging and I feel top of the world.”
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Al Nemr has his sights now set on the Olympics and believes his journey to reach that dream has just begun in Abu Dhabi.
Some of the more experienced riders competing with him were Ramzy Al Duhami and Khaled Al Mobty, members of the Saudi Arabia team who won gold at the recent Asian Games in Jakarta.
“I don’t want to be compared with them because they are in a different league and I’m learning from them every day,” said Al Nemr when asked of his success over his more experienced teammates.
“My seniors are helping me and providing all the encouragement. They share their experience that has been invaluable to me. We are a family and are competing for the country.
“So it doesn’t matter who win as long as it’s for Saudi Arabia. In this sport, everyone has good days and not so good days. I had a great day today.
“We have arrived with a big group of around 16 riders for the four-day competition and hopefully win a few more prizes for the country.”
There were 72 riders involved in the competition on Wednesday. Jordanian Nasouh Kayali had led for much of the event, having gone fourth, before Al Nemr overtook him.
Al Nemr had been 50th to set a time and admitted that he had felt some nerves as he waited for the following riders after him to complete their rounds and see if any of them could better his effort.
“I wasn’t sure if I could better that timing but I tried and was successful," he said of his performance. "I have been riding this mare for nearly five years since I first started to compete. She was outstanding today.
“I knew it wasn’t an easy to beat that timing but you never know,” he said.
The opening competition of yesterday, the CSI 1-star for young horses, was won by Salim Ahmed Al Suwaidi on Diamond Way. Dimitri Natsis atop Cascall and Tina Lund on board Celvita Z were second and third respectively.
The Al Shira’aa International Horse Show runs through until Saturday.
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Honeymoonish
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
