WEG: Organisers blamed for fiasco

Manama : His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, Captain of Bahrain Royal Endurance Team, has blasted the organisers of  the World Equestrian Games (WEG) Endurance  Championship in US for gross injustice to teams and participants. The Championship was hosted by the state of North Carolina, in United States, with many organisational errors until it was cancelled, out of fear of risk to the riders and horses. 

 “I am personally not happy with what happened to many competitors who put in their maximum efforts. I blame the Organising Committee of the Championship for the bad turn of events,” HH Shaikh Nasser said in the wake of the cancellation of the event. The event was cancelled following extreme weather conditions in North Carolina, US, according to its organisers. “What we witnessed today was the worst in terms of organisation and I stand by what’s right,” HH Shaikh Nasser said.

“Sometimes in races, I leave and am content with the result under any circumstances. But I remain always standing by what’s right and I don’t accept any participant to be unfairly treated,” HH Shaikh Nasser said. “The decision taken by the committee to re-kick-off the race was unfair and the event was marred by many wrong decisions during this championship which was eventually cancelled,” HH Shaikh Nasser said.

The World Endurance Championship that was cancelled in North Carolina cannot be called a championship and what happened there was the first in the history of world endurance championships, HH Shaikh Nasser said. Participating teams have protested against the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) for mishandling the championship, expressing their great dissatisfaction that all their efforts went in vain.