Qabil repeats four-gold haul

Qabil, riding Parvina, completed the first round without incurring a single penalty point.

QABIL Ambak Mahammad Fathil repeated his heroics of six years ago when he bagged the showjumping individual title for his fourth gold at Horsehoe Point in Pattaya City yesterday.

After winning the dressage individual and team and the showjumping team gold, Qabil had his eyes fixed on completing his haul of four gold medals.

Riding Parvina, the combination did not miss a beat as they went around the course in the first round without incurring a single penalty point.

Holdng a four-point lead over Diego Lorenzo of the Philippines going into the second and final round, Qabil opted for a conservative ride to ensure the gold did not slip out of his hands.

"It went very well as the horse was in top form and I did not incur any faults in my first ride. I decided to take my time to finish my second ride so I chose to ride safely and only incurred a single-point time penalty," said Qabil, 27.
Lorenzo settled for silver after incurring 17 penalty points while Pongsiree Bunluewong of Thailand won the bronze on 20 points as Malaysia's Syed Omar Almohdzar could only finish fourth on 26 points.

Qabil, who won his ninth gold medal in the Sea Games series, said he hoped to be given a chance for a repeat performance in the future.

"I only decided to compete here three months ago but I immediately set myself the aim of winning four gold. I put all my energy and focus into reaching my target and now that I have, I hope to be given a chance to maybe repeat this one more time," he said.

With Qabil's win, the Malaysian equestrian team have swept all four gold medals contested thus far with the eventing individual and team events still to come.

NST