Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Organizing Committee for the Saudi Games has started registration for auditions in all regions of the Kingdom for various sporting events that require holding performance tests.

The registrations will continue until June 5 while the performance tests will be held for the largest national sporting event from June 8 to Oct. 7.

There will be 53 sports events, divided into three categories: basic sports, exhibition sports, and Paralympic sports. Athletes in sports events that do not require auditions will be selected directly by their respective sports federations.

The organizing committee announced earlier the events that were included in the tournament.

They are darts, athletics, badminton, balot, basketball 3×3, basketball 5×5, beach volleyball, beach football, sea sports and diving, jet ski, billiards, bowling, boxing, camel racing, chess, climbing, cycling, equestrian, and electronic sports.

It also includes futsal, jogging, gymnastics, handball, indoor rowing, judo, jiu-jtsu, karate, federation of automobiles and motorcycles, Thai boxing, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, robot and wireless sports, wushu, and goalball, in addition to athletics (Paralympics), table tennis (Paralympics), weightlifting (Paralympics), and basketball (Paralympics).

Items that require registration for auditions are as follows: Darts, athletics, beach volleyball, balot, billiards, electronic sports, boxing, golf, indoor rowing and windsurfing, wrestling, weightlifting, squash. table tennis, racing triathlon, taekwondo, weightlifting-Paralympic, athletics-Paralympic, Thai boxing, and karting.

Auditions will also be held for a number of experimental sports such as skateboarding, rock climbing, cricket, and mixed martial arts.

There are a total of 22 events for which registrants shall undergo performance tests.

On March 5, the Organizing Committee announced the dates of the second edition of the Saudi Games 2023. Saudi Arabia’s biggest ever games. will be held between Nov. 26 and Dec. 10, 2023.

The first edition of the Saudi Games, which was held from Oct.r 27 to Nov. 7, 2022, met with great interaction and tremendous response with the participation of more than 6,000 athletes and 2,000 technical and administrative supervisors, representing more than 200 clubs from across the Kingdom.

The first edition saw stiff competition in 45 individual and team events, including five Paralympic sports.

During the inaugural edition of the Saudi Games, Saudi Arabia offered equal prize money to both male and female medalists, with a total prize pot of over $53 million, divided across 45 sports included in the program: SR1 million for the gold medal, SR 300,000 for the silver and SR100,000 for the bronze.

The Saudi Games are part of the Kingdom's "Life Quality" program — which features in the wider Saudi Vision 2030 — aimed to raise the level of sport in the country by increasing participation of both male and female athletes.