Emirates Jumping Wins Second Silver as Al Muhairi Claims Individual Silver at Asian Games

Aichi-Nagoya, The Gulf Observer: Emirates Jumping concluded its campaign at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 with a second silver medal on Sunday, after Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi and Hudson de Vains secured Individual silver following a dramatic three-way jump-off at JRA Equestrian Park.

The result builds on the Team silver medal won by Emirates Jumping on Thursday and caps a successful Championship in which all four UAE combinations advanced to their respective Individual Finals.

In Competition A, Humaid Abdulla Khalifa Al Muhairi and Mentos narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. In the newly introduced 1.55m Competition B, Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Enjoy de la Mure finished sixth, while Sheikha Latifah Bint Ahmed Al Maktoum and Cornet XL placed seventh.

Abdullah and Humaid both qualified with clear rounds in Saturday’s opening competition, earning places among the 20 combinations in Sunday’s Competition A Final, where the fences were raised to 1.50m.

Sixteenth to start, Abdullah produced an outstanding clear round on the nine-year-old Hudson de Vains, securing a place in the jump-off for the medals alongside riders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Humaid, who entered the arena eighteenth, lowered the middle element of the triple combination with Mentos. The resulting four faults ended his medal hopes and left him fourth overall after an otherwise exceptional week.

Qatar’s Faleh Alajmi opened the jump-off and recorded one fence down in 40.88 seconds, giving Abdullah an opportunity to challenge for gold. Although he set out aiming for a clear round, the Emirati rider increased his pace and incurred a fault at a demanding oxer, finishing in 41.93 seconds. That left the gold within reach of Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Almobty, the final rider to go. Known for his speed, Almobty began well but lowered the last fence while chasing the clock. The result confirmed Abdullah as silver medallist, with gold going to Qatar and bronze to Saudi Arabia.

Reflecting on his performance, Abdullah expressed pride in his young horse. “I’m happy to finish second, but of course I could have been first. That’s the sport,” he said. “I’m so proud of Hudson. He’s just nine years old and still lacks some experience, but our competitions and training over the summer have really paid off. He’s showing the quality, scope and temperament for the job. I’m sure we will go far together.”

He acknowledged that his competitive instincts had shaped his jump-off. “After I saw the Qatari rider have a fence down, my plan was to go clear. But when you’re in the ring, you want to go faster. I’m normally a fast rider and perhaps it wasn’t very smart of me. But if I’d gone slower and still had a fence down, I would have finished with bronze. If it’s your day, it’s your day.”

For Humaid, fourth place was an encouraging outcome with a promising young horse making his Championship debut. “It was unlucky to have the middle fence of the triple combination down. Mentos was a little tired,” he said. “It’s the first Championship for this nine-year-old horse and he jumped three clear rounds this week. He’s going to keep getting better and we have a good future ahead.”

In the higher-level Competition B, Omar and Sheikha Latifah contested Sunday’s decisive second round over a demanding 1.55m course featuring 15 jumping efforts. Omar, seventh to start and carrying four faults from Saturday, delivered an excellent clear round with Enjoy de la Mure, comfortably inside the time allowed, to finish sixth overall. The performance marked a strong close to another major Championship for the partnership, which placed 13th individually at the FEI Jumping World Championship in Aachen earlier this summer.

“As a team, we’ve taken silver at the Asian Games and Abdullah won another individual silver today in Competition A,” said Omar. “Enjoy has been jumping really well. I think yesterday he deserved better from me, but then he jumped out of his skin today. Enjoy means everything to me. He always tries his best and he’s a horse of a lifetime.”

Sheikha Latifah entered the Final on zero faults after an impressive clear round with Cornet XL on Saturday, but two fences down in the deciding round left the combination seventh. “I’m very disappointed with the result, not with my riding,” she said. “The way he jumped every other fence, I don’t think the result does justice to his performance. Luck wasn’t on our side, but I’m still very proud of him. We go home to the UAE with two silver medals, so at least that makes us feel a little bit better.”

The Individual Finals brought an impressive week to a close for Emirates Jumping, which departs Japan with two silver medals and all four combinations finishing in the top ten of their respective Individual competitions.