Canada at the 2007 International Tent Pegging Championships

At the US National Cavalry Competition Canada will be represented at the International Tent Pegging Championships for the first time, when Akaash rides for UNICEF Team Canada at the 2007 games hosted by the Sultanate of Oman from 02-06 March. "I am humbled to compete alongside some of the world's foremost equestrian athletes, yet proud to do so on behalf of Canada," said Akaash. "I am especially honoured to serve as a UNICEF representative, and to ride not only for Canada, but also for the cause of the world's children." With a history stretching back 2 500 years, tent pegging emerged out of cavalry training exercises, and is often known as equestrian skill-at-arms. It is one of only ten disciplines officially recognised by the Fédération équestre internationale (FEI), the global governing body for equestrian sport. Click for full details on tent pegging, the International Championships, and UNICEF Team Canada. Click for Akaash's daily blog from the championships. Click to donate to UNICEF. Click for the formal advisory for researchers, journalists, and students. In a unique Canadian arrangement, Akaash has declined corporate sponsorship and has instead donated his team naming rights to the United Nations Children's Fund. Carrying the organisation's colours in Oman, he hopes to further UNICEF's campaign to provide education to vulnerable children, to help them escape the child labour trade. Akaash most recently competed at the 2006 US National Cavalry Competition in Kentucky, and took ribbons in Mounted Sabre III and in Military Field Jumping II. He trains at the Meadows Equestrian Centre and began tent pegging as a rider with the Governor General's Horse Guards. He has volunteered with UNICEF since he was a child, and was Chair of UNICEF's Orange Box Hallowe'en programme in Ontario. He was also a director of UNICEF at Oxford University and of the Commonwealth of Nations Association for UNICEF. Previous News Flashes: Leadership Convention Standing Ovation Delegates give Akaash a standing ovation, as the Montréal Gazette raves, "Maharaj…speaks with an eloquence the party hasn't heard since Pierre Trudeau's day." Liberal Accountability Report Akaash publishes the official Liberal report into government policy accountability. Akaash Launches his Third National Tour "The greatness of our country lies in the vastness of our land and the diversity of our people." National Leadership Debates Akaash's national Policy and Leadership Fora sweep Canada Akaash Addresses PEI Leadership Convention "You have proved that we are a Party of the many, not the few," said Akaash to 5000 delegates assembled in Charlottetown An Ottawa Ovation Greets Akaash "It feels like the days of Trudeaumania," said George Devine, President of Ottawa - Vanier Akaash Awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal Akaash is decorated in recognition of his work towards Middle East peace