Saudi Arabia to build on Olympic success with program to develop sport

The Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC) is to launch a program to help develop sport in the Kingdom, the sports minister and SAOC president said as he celebrated Saudi athletes’ achievements at the Tokyo games.

Prince Abdul Aziz bin Turki Al-Faisal was speaking after arriving at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Monday with the Saudi Olympics team as they returned from Japan.

“Winning Olympic medals requires players to psychologically and physically prepare and become ready in a period ranging between four to eight years,” he said.

Prince Abdul Aziz, who headed the Saudi delegation to the Tokyo Olympics, added: “The unlimited attention and support from the leadership contributed to this achievement, which is recorded in the name of the nation.”

Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdul Aziz, vice president of SAOC, said the numbers achieved by the Saudi athletes participating in the Olympics Tokyo 2020 are motivating, although they encountered some difficulties because there were changes to the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tarek Hamdi won Saudi Arabia a silver medal in the men’s karate competition.

The Kingdom was represented by 33 men and women in nine different sports — the largest number the Kingdom has sent to the games.

The nine sports included football, table tennis, swimming, archery, rowing, judo, athletics, karate and weightlifting.