The 2007 FEI International Tent Pegging Championships will be held in Muscat, Oman in March, with Akaash Maharaj representing Canada, under the UNICEF banner. Tent pegging is one of 10 equestrian disciplines recognized by the FEI.

The sport, which sees galloping riders use sword and lance to spear targets, originated in the military, through training exercises for cavalrymen. The term “tent pegging” draws from the small tent stakes that served as the original targets in military encampments.

The mainstay of tent pegging remains lancing ground targets. However, the sport also includes: ring jousting (threading a blade through suspended rings); lemon sticking (slicing suspended targets); quintain tilting (charging swivelling mannequins); Parthian (mounted) archery; and cavalry revolver. All events are conducted at a full gallop.

“I am humbled to compete alongside some of the world’s foremost equestrian athletes, yet proud to do so on behalf of Canada,” said Maharaj. “I am especially honoured to serve as a UNICEF representative, and to ride not only for our country, but also for  the cause of children toiling in child labour.”

In a unique Canadian arrangement, the team declined to seek corporate sponsorship, and instead donated its naming rights to UNICEF. “By riding under UNICEF’s banner in Oman, our team hopes to lend prominence to and therefore advance the organisation’s efforts to help working children realize their right to education,” said Maharaj.

An estimated 246 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour. Many of these children have no access to a quality education that could help pull them out of the cycle of poverty. With this initial event, UNICEF Team Canada is supporting the organization’s work with the Sishushiksha Karmasuchi (SSK) project in West Bengal, India, to establish community-based alternative learning centres for children working in dangerous conditions. The children who will benefit from these centre’s work primarily in zari (embroidery) workshops, sewing beads and glitter for up to 20 hours a day, or scavenge for coal near open pit mines.

Visit http://www.tentpegging.ca/ for more information.

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