On a day that was filled with many surprising twists and turns, the Ukrainian team won the opening leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2014 series at Al Ain (UAE) this evening. But it was no simple triumph, as they had to battle to the bitter end against a powerful challenge from Qatar that forced a two-way jump-off against the clock.

The Qatari side lost the top step of the podium by the narrowest of margins at the end of the day, but are on the road to the Furusiyya 2014 Final in Barcelona (ESP) in October along with the third-place side from Saudi Arabia, so for both these countries it is already “mission accomplished”.

The London 2012 Olympic bronze medal winning team from Saudi Arabia looked the ones to beat as the competition got underway, and seemed set to cruise home with one of the two available spots for the series Final on offer at this single qualifying event for countries in the Middle East region. But the uncharacteristic elimination of pathfinder Ramzy Al Duhami got things off to a shaky start, and their 21-fault finishing score left them vulnerable.

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