Meet Saudi Arabia’s first female sports reporter

Saudi Gazette report SPORTS journalism is incredibly popular in a country where football fever runs high. Newspaper columnists, radio presenters and TV sports broadcasters throughout the Kingdom regularly air their views on the on-pitch performances of the 14-team Saudi Professional League with particular focus on the hugely-popular Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Shabab, Al-Ahli and Ittihad clubs. However, what was once a medium dominated by men, is now opening its doors to women, the first of who is Hana Jamal Alooni. As Saudi Arabia’s first female reporter, Hana covers sporting events in the Kingdom and is the content manager at MBC PR. She started her career working for Al-Madina newspaper as a reporter and later for Okaz daily where she was given a managerial role because of her distinguished leadership skills. Al-Riyadh daily met her and asked her about her career and dreams. Hana joined Makkah daily shortly after the newspaper commenced publishing. She held numerous positions at the newspaper where she proved to be a key staff member. Her next step was to join a radio station; Hana worked for Alif Alif Radio for seven months where she presented a sports show. She left the radio and joined MBC PRO as content manager. How it all started? Hana was born in July of 1981. Her interest in sports was sparked by her late father who was passionate about all types of sports. “Although I studied biology at university, I loved sports and was an active sports blogger. One of my father’s friends encouraged me to apply for a job as a reporter in a newspaper and I did. That is how it all started,” she said. The road was a bumpy one; it was not easy for a young woman to venture into a predominantly-male dominion. She worked hard to succeed as a sports content manager at the MBC PRO channel and she felt she had to prove to everyone else that she was capable enough to pull it off. “Because I was so eager to succeed, I asked my husband to postpone our honeymoon because I had a lot of tasks on hand at the time. He was very supportive and gave in to my request. I do not know what I would have done without him. I will always be thankful to him because he believed in me along the way right from the start,” she said. As a young woman, Hana says the sky is the limit. She always sets hard goals and constantly works to achieve them. No matter how difficult the obstacles, Hana says she will forge ahead and overcome them. Perfection is an innate trait in her character, something reflected in her motto: “The road to success is not going to be easy.” Family Hana says she regrets when her children are neglected as a result of her work obligations. However, she always tries not to miss family gatherings and makes it a point to spend quality time with her children. She keeps a close eye on their performance at school and rewards them when they excel. “My family means the world to me. I cannot let a single day go by without seeing them and checking up on them. My children love to hear my work stories and the difficulties I face sometimes. I am glad they know that they are my number one priority,” she said. Apart from journalism, Hana spends her free time writing and dreams of one day writing short stories.