Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Kawthar Al-Baroudi has won two gold medals in the women’s swimming competitions, which were held on Wednesday at the Aquatics Hall of the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex as part of the Saudi Games 2022, being held in the capital city.

In the women’s 50-meter freestyle competition, Al-Baroudi bagged the first position and the gold medal in 29:29 seconds, followed by Hana Jaber in second place with a time of 30.01 seconds, and Mashael Al-Ayed won the bronze medal with a time of 30.70 seconds. Al-Baroudi won her second gold in the women’s 50m breaststroke competition, recording a time of 38:20 seconds. Maryam Mustafa came in second with a time of 39:37 seconds, and Mashael Al-Ayed placed third with a time of 41:00.

A total of 32 male and female players representing 13 clubs are participating in the badminton competitions that started at the Leaders Preparation Institute at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Olympic Complex on Wednesday. The women’s volleyball group stage competitions continued at Al-Hilal Club Hall, where Phoenix defeated Al-Ittihad 3-0, while Al-Hilal defeated Esperance 3-0. In the men’s competitions, Al-Ibtisam defeated Al-Nasr 3-0, and Al-Ahli defeated Al-Ittihad 3-0. score.

In the handball competitions held in the King Saud University Hall, Al-Khaleej defeated Al-Qarrah 31-28, while Mudar tied with Al-Zulfi 27-27. In the tennis quarter-finals, held at the headquarters of the Saudi Tennis Federation, Suleiman Al-Qasim, Saud Al-Haqbani, Ammar Al-Haqbani, and Rakan Al-Qaoud emerged winners in the men’s singles competitions while Yara Al-Haqbani and Sarah Al-Obaidan advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s competitions.

Riyadh Emir Prince Faisal bin Bandar opened the first edition of the Saudi Games at King Fahd International Stadium on Oct. 28. Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal also attended the inaugural ceremony of the biggest Saudi national sporting event, which will conclude on Nov. 7.

The Saudi Games competitions are being held in 22 sports facilities in Riyadh, with the participation of more than 6000 male and female athletes, competing in 45 sports events, including five events dedicated to the Paralympic Games, under which 180 sports competitions fall. Around 2000 technical and administrative supervisors are involved in organizing the event.

The participating athletes will be motivated to provide their highest performance by allocating the highest prizes in the history of the Gulf region, with a total of more than SR200 million. The gold medal winner in any game will get SR1 million, while the silver medalist will receive SR300,000, and the bronze winner will get SR100,000. The first edition of the Saudi Games 2022 aims to increase the popularity of various games in the Kingdom and to achieve an ideal sports environment for competition among athletes in various sports.

It also seeks to raise the level of Saudi Arabia’s capabilities to organize major sporting events in order to achieve the targets of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.