The entire team at Saudi Equestrian is delighted with the findings of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport which has reduced the original eight month ban handed to Khaled Abdulaziz Al Eid and Abdullah Waleed Sharbatly, to two months and, following their voluntary suspension in February, allows both riders to start competing again with immediate effect.
With Khaled Al Eid already qualified for the London Olympic Games with Presley Boy, the focus is now on Abdullah Sharbatly qualifying on Sultan V before June 17th.
We would like to draw attention to the original findings of the FEI Tribunal which acknowledged, in both cases, that neither the rider nor the team had deliberately administered Bute to their horses, and reiterate that Saudi Equestrian is an unequivocal supporter of the FEI’s Clean Sport campaign.
Ziyad Abduljawad, the Managing Director of Saudi Equestrian said, “This has been an extremely difficult and testing time for the Saudi Equestrian team and I would like to praise the way in which both Khaled and Abdullah have handled themselves throughout the process.
I would also like to praise the entire Saudi Equestrian team who have remained focussed and have gone about their own competition schedules in an exemplary fashion.
I would also like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Jeremy Dickerson and his team at Burges Salmon for all their hard work on this case.”