Crawford boasts first black number one ranked show jumper in South Africa
A Gr. 5 pupil at Crawford Preparatory College has been named the first black number one ranked show jumper in South Africa
Salmaan Ismail, a gr. 5 pupil at Crawford Preparatory College, is South Africa’s first black show jumper ranked number one in the Pony 90cm category, according to SA Showjumping 2014.
Ismail, who started riding when he was five years old, started riding competitively in 2009, at the age of seven.
His current pony, Cloud 79, has been his competition companion since 2011.
Ismail’s many achievements in showjumping this year include a second place in the Sanesa National Championships as a member of the Gauteng Team, the Commendation Award from Crawford in 2012 for participation in Equestrian Sport and his current title of number one ranked rider, as well as number one ranked horse and rider combination in the Pony Rider 90cm Class in South Africa.
He was in the Gauteng North Sanesa 60cm team in 2010, Gauteng North Sanesa 70cm team in 2011 and in the Gauteng Sanesa 90cm team in 2012.
Jumping is the most popular equestrian discipline, consisting of competitive precision riding over a set course of obstacles, which although it seems quite stable, are easily knocked down.
First introduced in South Africa in the early 1950’s, jumping really took of in especially Gauteng, which has the highest number of equestrian athletes in the country.
Ismail is the first black number one ranked Pony rider that South Africa.
