Date: 05-11-2008 - SEVEN stages will be featured in the World Endurance Horseride Championship, scheduled for Friday in Malaysia.

The Organising Committee yesterday approved the stages of this prestigious event, to be held at the Terengganu International Endurance Park.

The first stage will be over 28kms, 27kms for the second, 28kms for the third, 27kms for the fourth, 23kms for the fifth, 18kms for the sixth while the seventh and last stage is over 10kms.

The Bahrain Royal Endurance Team, captained by Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, will take part in both the individual and team races.

The Bahraini team also includes five other members and they are Breef first vice-president and Al Khaldiya Stables leaders Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Yousif Taher, Ghazi Al Dossary, Raed Mahmood and Ahmed Abdulla.

The six-member team, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur last week, will line-up with the worlds top 142 riders from 34 countries in this challenging event which will be over 160km. It commences at 12 noon (Bahrain time).

The team is being coached by Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa while Dr Khalid Hassan was appointed team manager.

This will be Bahrains third appearance in the world championship. Their debut was in the 2005 edition cup in Dubai. They also took part in the 2006 championship in Akhn, Germany.

The Bahrainis, whose horses were already shipped to Kuala Lumpur and then to Terengganu, will be vying to take a podium finish in this prestigious $200,000 tournament which features teams and individual races.

Meanwhile, the Bahraini riders have already submit their entries yesterday at the endurance park and then attend the opening ceremony tomorrow at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.

The Stadium is a new multi-use stadium in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. It is currently used mostly for soccer matches. The stadium holds 50,000 people and it is the biggest stadium in the East Coast of Malaysia.

The Media Office of Shaikh Nasser prepared special booklets for the championship which contain information on the teams participation in international events and their results.

The booklets, which are sponsored by Mena Telecom, were distributed to the media officials at the endurance village in Terengganu.

The pre-ride inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, to be followed by riders weighing. The riders will then attend the briefing and team declaration later tomorrow.

The race concludes on Saturday morning, and the prize-giving ceremony will be held the following day.