The First day started with a Military Parade music and then the entrance of the participating teams and in front of every country a competitor on a horseback carrying the flag of his country, Then a poem was recited to welcome the guests of the United Arab Emirates followed by a Opening Ceremony visual presentation on the sport of Tent Pegging. A musical presentation of the sponsors with the flags of the countries participating in the tournament and then His Excellency Major General Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, president of the UAE Equestrian & Racing Federation and the President of the Organizing Committee of the World Cup delivered a speech saying: “I am delighted and honored to welcome the guests of the distinguished countries participating and the heads of delegations too and the fans of this sport to the Third World Cup of Tent Pegging in Abu Dhabi, 2018, where this unique sporting event is of great importance in conjunction with the year of Zayed and celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founding father, added Al Raisi. This Championship is Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and with the continued support of the good leadership of this country to promote the equestrian sports. On behalf of the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation, I welcome you all to this magnificent global event where brotherly and friendly countries compete in the first-ever tournament to be held on the precious Capital of Abu Dhabi, where the establishment of this sports World Cup to enhance the status and pioneering the UAE in sponsoring the sport of Tent pegging on both the Arab and International level. The tournament is a festival featuring a prestigious elite of the world stars participating from 11 countries and we wish all success and good stay in their second country The UAE.
The ranking of the Teams for the First Day: The first day of competition was an exciting day and the points were convergent among all the teams that were assigned to the spear competitions for singles and teams where the Egyptian team won the first place with a result of 129 points and the competitors were Mohamed Fawzi, Rani Hamlet, Mahmoud Zaqzouq and Ghali Safi Uldeen. The Saudi team came in second place with a result of 127.5 points and the competitors were Khaled Mubarak, Mashael Hamad, Rashid Hamad and Muhannad Hadi and third place was to the South African team with a score of 127 points the competitor were Norman, Andrea, Johan and Daniel.
The ranking of individuals for the First day: the tournament has the world’s strongest players with highest levels in the Tent Pegging Games, were the levels of the participating teams are clearly evolving and the development is evident in the great artistic level of the contestants, where the competition at the individual level has been resolved by going to the “break of differentiation” meaning a break between two best player given their tie in the first day of the tournament. The Iraqi national team contestant Osama Louai crowned the title of the best competitor on the first day and in second place came the Saudi team competitor Hamad, where they had a draw in the points with a total of (36) points for each player and then the Iraqi player Osama Louai took the first place by time limit only !! and this is evidence of a top game for a sport where both competitors got the rate of 6 points. The third place had a draw between the Egyptian Competitor Ghali and the Saudi competitor Muhanad, the Egyptian competitor Ghali Safi Uldeen won the result of the additional run and got the Third place in Day one.
