PH, Malaysia square off

Philippine equestrian, absent from the limelight for quite some time, will unveil a new breed of riders in a show jumping competition against Malaysia to keep them in peak form.

The inaugural Equestrian Philippines Riders Tour features the country’s top six riders on Sept. 29 at the Manila Polo Club opposite the Malaysian equestrian squad in a head-to-head Nation’s Cup competition in different height categories.

“We need to expose our younger riders to compete as a team for our country, which requires an entirely different mind-set from competing locally as individual riders,” said Equestrian PH president Carissa Coscolluela.

Coached by SEA Games gold medalist and national team veteran Joker Arroyo, the team composed of Minxie Romualdez, Alex Villalon, Mohamed El Akkad, Nicole Camcam, Lara Zobel, and Paola Lorenzo will each jump at a different level against a counterpart Malaysian competitor.

To remove any advantage in this borrowed-horse competition, the Philippine riders will not be riding their own horses, but will swap for other local mounts while lending their horses to the visiting Malaysian team.