GCT starts this week in Doha

The first leg of the Global Champions Tour, presented by CN and CN WorldWide, is also about the Olympic bidding of Qatar for 2016. Banners on dozens of buildings in the capital Doha set the direction for the aspirations. Coming Thursday is the start of the opening leg of the Global Champions Tour in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf State Qatar.

Over 70 jumping horses that left Monday from Maastricht/Aachen Airport have arrived in Doha and stay in completely air-conditioned spacious boxes. The accommodation can be found at the “Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club”, where opposed to other parts of the country, it is nice and green. The competition arena is remarkable – round in shape with a diameter of over 100 meters and a circumference of almost 400 meters..

You can find the absolute world top on start at the Global Champions Tour in Doha. With the first 2 of the world cup ranking, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Jessica Kürten, this level is confirmed.

Also Jos Lansink (world champion 2006), Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Christian Ahlmann, Michel Robert, Jeroen Dubbeldam and Albert Zoer form a competitor field where many international shows in Europe would be jealous of.

Course designer Olaf Petersen from Germany has room to create a creative course. He will be assisted by Attef Shawki from the United Arab Emirates. This show consists of people from the region that are enormously involved, and so it happens that of the 63 employee names, 39 are from this region. This is how the Global Champions Tour encourages the development of the equestrian sport.

On Thursday 10 April the first classes will start. The first class will start around 18.00 hrs and is a 1.45m class on time. After that the qualification for the Grand Prix will be held at around 21.00 hrs. On Saturday the first rider’s start is planned for 18.00 hrs. During this event riders will be competing for a purse of €300,000, with the winner taking home €100,000. The points that will be gained at this show, will count for the final classification of the Global Champions Tour.

The classes can be followed through the internet website of the Global Champions Tour. On this site you can also find more information about the GCT. In addition, Eurosport broadcasts the Grand Prix live on 12 April from 19.30-21.00 hrs.