RIYADH — Mohammed Asiri, Saudi karate champion, has won gold in the Buenos Aires Summer Youth Olympic Games, which concluded on Wednesday. It was for the first time that Saudi Arabia had won a gold in Olympics after the Kingdom started participating in the Olympic Games since 1972.

Asiri bagged gold in the category of 61kg on Wednesday, beating his Jordanian rival at the third Olympic Youth Games. Turki Al-Asheikh, chairman of the General Sport Authority, congratulated Asiri on this remarkable achievement, and announced a reward of SR1 million for him.

Asiri expressed his happiness with this historic achievement. “Praise be to God, I was able to achieve my ambition in this Olympic Games, during which I was able to take the crowning position, raise my country’s flag and play the Royal Anthem of my dear homeland in this world forum. I present this feat to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, and to my parents and all my fellow athletes.”