Saudi Olympic squad arrives in Tokyo

Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Committee has arrived in Tokyo, completing its preparations to participate in the 32nd Summer Olympics.

Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdul Aziz, vice president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee and deputy head of the Kingdom’s participating delegation, said upon arrival in the Japanese capital on Sunday: “All arrangements have been completed in terms of accommodation, transport and training venues for the qualified Olympic players.”

He said he “hoped that the Kingdom’s representatives will achieve the desired results in the international forum.”

The Saudi national under-23 football team held a training session that included a number of tactical, technical and physical exercises with coach Saad Al-Shehri, focusing particularly on defense.

The Saudi Olympic football team is set to face the Ivory Coast team on Thursday at Yokohama Stadium in the Group D category, which also includes Brazil and Germany.

It is the first time the Saudi team has qualified for the Olympics in 24 years, after it came in second place after South Korea in the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship, which was held in January last year.

The team arrived in Tokyo along with Saudi judo qualifiers Sulaiman Hamad and Tahani Al-Qahtani, and weightlifters Siraj Al-Saleem and Mahmoud Al-Humayd.