The championship went over three days with fences standing at a staggering 155 - 160 cms, starting with a fast Table C on Tuesday and two identical rounds on Wednesday where Ragab & Campari where double clear and leading the rankings going into the final day.
Out of 17 combinations only 9 made it to the first round of the final on Friday which consisted of 11 fences including a triple combination of vertical - vertical - oxer which was a big ask and demanded plenty of scope and an oxer - vertical double as well with most of the riders having scattered faults here and there but only two riders managed a clean sheet but with a time fault - Ahmed Ragab and Mohamed Sadek on Europa (who won both the CSI 2* - W in Cairo and Egypt's Cup) eventually settled in third place overall.
The second round was not as technical but equally as big and wide as the first round, where Amin Ghabbour ( who was runner up at Egypt's Cup and the CSI2* - W in Cairo) had accumulated alot of points through out the season produced a clear round with Cartobet and was clear the days before managed to lay in second place runner up to Ragab and Campari (who were last to go) and had a margin of error to win but after he pulled out a thrilling second round left all the poles untouched to claim the final championships and thus winning the overall league for the season in an electric atmosphere.
" It was a very tough season" said Ragab,
" Between all the national championships I competed in this year, the final was the toughest in terms of technicality and height. The last two rounds were almost 160 and the competitors were also serious with so many new young riders and good horses" he added.
" Campari and I are quite an experienced partnership and we know each other so well, so I guess that contributed to our victory, but I couldn't have done it without the support of my team, friends and family" he continued.
Photo: Hamada Hamdy
