Syrian showjumper’s father unable to watch his son at Greenwich
Controversy has overshadowed the achievements of 18-year-old Ahmad Saber Hamcho – the first Syrian rider to qualify for the Olympics – because of his family’s links to president Bashar al-Assad.
President Assad’s brutal crackdown on the civil uprising in Syria has left around 14,000 dead.
Mr Hamcho almost swiped the Hickstead Speed Derby from Trevor Breen, but neither his father nor the head of the Syrian Olympic committee will be at Greenwich to watch him, as they are banned from the UK.
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (5 July 2012)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.