The UAE Show Jumping Team is preparing for a new competition format at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, with team and individual honours to be decided across three days of show jumping competition in Tokyo.
Show jumping will take place on 1, 3 and 4 October at the JRA Equestrian Park, with the UAE vying for medals in the Team Championship followed by two separate individual competitions.
For the first time at an Asian Games, two separate individual competitions will be staged at different heights alongside the team event, with each nation able to enter athletes in either and no rider permitted to compete in both.
The UAE team comprises Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Enjoy De La Mure, Humaid Abdulla Khalifa Al Muhairi and Mentos, Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi and Hudson De Vains and Sheikha Latifah Bint Ahmed Al Maktoum and Cornet XL, with BBS McGregor named as the reserve horse.
The Team Championship will open the show jumping programme on Thursday, 1 October and will be contested over two rounds.
Attention will then turn to the individual competitions, with the UAE riders divided between two categories.
Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi and Humaid Abdulla Khalifa Al Muhairi are set to compete in Individual A, at heights of up to 1.50m, while Sheikha Latifah Bint Ahmed Al Maktoum and Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi will take on the Individual B category, at heights of up to 1.55m.
The first rounds of both individual competitions will take place on Saturday, 3 October, before the concluding rounds and medal ceremonies on Sunday, 4 October.
Ahead of their journey to Japan, the UAE horses are nearing the end of a 10-day veterinary quarantine period in Aachen, Germany, alongside horses from other Asian nations travelling from Europe to compete at the Games. The horses scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on 23 September.
The first veterinary inspection in Tokyo is scheduled for Tuesday, 29 September, with a re-inspection the following morning where required. Horses entered in the individual competitions will undergo a further veterinary inspection on Friday, 2 October ahead of the opening individual rounds.
The UAE arrives in Japan with a strong recent record at the Asian Games. The national team claimed bronze at Hangzhou 2023, while Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi secured individual silver and Abdullah Mohammed Al Marri took individual bronze.
Sheikha Latifah is also a previous Asian Games individual medallist, having won silver at Guangzhou 2010.
The Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games began on 19 September and continue until 4 October, with the equestrian competitions being staged at the JRA Equestrian Park in Tokyo.
