PUTRAJAYA, Nov 22 — National athlete Mohd Nabil Fikri Ismail emerged victorious in the 2015 Malaysia Open Showjumping Championship at the Putrajaya Equestrian Park today.
Mohd Nabil, 28, who rode on Urgola, recorded a time of 41.64 seconds without incurring any penalty in a jump-off, leaving M. Praveen Nair (43.24s) and Natasha Ines Wah Idris (43.44s) in second and third places respectively.
The three riders who completed the first and second rounds without any penalty points with Izad Rushdi Paiza resulted in a jump-off to decide the winner.
Izad Rushdi and his horse, Khalife, received four penalty points in the deciding round.
“I didn’t expect to win today because the contestants were all ‘heavyweights’. My first horse, Urgola, was tired after the first round and I had to use my second horse in the second round and went back to riding Urgola in the final round.
“This is my first event after the Singapore SEA Games in June because there were no competitions in Malaysia,” said Mohd Nabil who contributed a silver medal in the Team Showjumping event at the Singapore SEA Games this year.
He will next be taking part in the 2015 National Horse Show from Thursday to November 29 to train his young horses.
Mohd Nabil received RM20,000 while Praveen Nair and Natasha Ines received RM15,000 and RM10,000 respectively.
Equestrian Association of Malaysia president Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly presented the prizes. — Bernama
