{"id":4843,"date":"2022-08-21T07:34:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T01:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/?p=4843"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:34:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T01:34:52","slug":"how-saudi-arabia-is-aiming-to-be-home-to-the-worlds-biggest-sporting-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/sports\/2022\/08\/21\/news\/4843\/","title":{"rendered":"How Saudi Arabia is aiming to be home to the world\u2019s biggest sporting events"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The peloton passes by ancient Nabataean carved tombs during the Saudi Tour northwestern city of AlUla on Feb. 1, 2022. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JEDDAH, Broadcasting news corporation : Saudi Arabia\u2019s coastal city of Jeddah was buzzing with excitement yet again on Saturday ahead of one of the biggest boxing rematches in sporting history, between Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and British fighter Anthony Joshua. Such scenes of anticipation are increasingly familiar in Saudi Arabia, as more and more international sporting events are hosted by the Kingdom \u2014 a product of the country\u2019s wide-ranging social and economic transformation plan, Vision 2030. Last September, Usyk shocked the boxing world when he outclassed Joshua in the first bout, claiming his fourth heavyweight title. Owing to the war in Ukraine, their planned rematch could not take place in the champion\u2019s home country. Instead the bout, titled \u201cRage on the Red Sea,\u201d came to Jeddah. One of the goals of Vision 2030, launched in 2016, was to establish the Kingdom as a regional hub for world-class professional sporting events that would generate jobs for Saudi citizens and enhance overall quality of life. Today, sports are taking center stage in the Kingdom\u2019s diversification drive to move the economy away from hydrocarbons and to embrace a whole host of flourishing cultural, entrepreneurial and high-tech industries. In just a few short years, Saudi Arabia has moved to the forefront, hosting some of the biggest sporting events in the world, providing an additional boost for tourism, hospitality, leisure, and employment, while also strengthening national identity. Tourism is one area Saudi Arabia is especially eager to promote with the launch of its Saudi e-visa in 2018. The Kingdom expects to have hosted 100 million tourists by 2030, drawn by a mixture of new luxury resorts and a packed entertainment calendar. Hosting major sporting events has created new opportunities for partnerships, investments, and sponsorships at every stage in the value chain, while also demonstrating Saudi Arabia\u2019s diversity, inclusivity, and economic potential to a broader international audience. From the silky smooth tarmac of the Formula E track to the epic routes of the Dakar desert race, and the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City to the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, the Kingdom\u2019s sports entertainment infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds. Saudi Arabia\u2019s successful bid to host the 2034 Asian Games is further proof of the sector\u2019s long-term strategic trajectory \u2014 one that is bound up in its overall national development. In 2018, the Kingdom witnessed a flurry of major sporting events, tournaments, and championships. That year, Britain\u2019s Callum Smith beat compatriot George Groves in Jeddah to win the WBA super-middleweight title and the World Boxing Super Series crown. The 2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix was also one for the books, as the championship was staged in the historic town of Diriyah, the capital of the first Saudi state. Since then, Saudi Arabia has hosted the Supercoppa Italiana, the expanded Supercopa de Espana, golf\u2019s Saudi International and the $20 million Saudi Cup \u2014 the world\u2019s richest horse race. It has also hosted the Saudi International Championship for Parachuting, the \u201cClash on the Dunes\u201d between Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr., the Diriyah Tennis Cup, and the Battle of the Champions BMX and skateboarding tournament, to name just a few. Although Saudi Arabia\u2019s entertainment revolution suffered setbacks in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with events suspended, venues closed, and international travel barred for several months, the entertainment calendar soon returned with a bang. In 2021, the Kingdom inaugurated its crowning glory \u2014 the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix \u2014 firmly establishing itself as a leading venue for international sports events. Built in just eight months, the high-speed circuit on Jeddah\u2019s seafront became the fastest F1 track to have ever been constructed. The Kingdom has now set its sights on hosting the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup in 2026 and the Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia\u2019s planned megacity of NEOM in 2029. A recent Ernst & Young report found that the value of the sporting events industry in Saudi Arabia is growing 8 percent annually, rising from $2.1 billion in 2018 to an estimated $3.3 billion by 2024. The contribution of sport to national GDP grew from $2.4 billion in 2016 to $6.9 billion in 2019 as the number of international events in Saudi Arabia doubled from nine in 2018 to 19 in 2019. Of course, the economic dividends are not the only signals of success. The Kingdom\u2019s young athletes have clocked up significant victories, which the whole nation can rightly feel proud of. Last year, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Tarek Hamdi won silver in karate at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Then, earlier this year, Fayik Abdi became the first Saudi to participate in the Winter Olympics, held in Beijing. Having performed well in its fifth FIFA World Cup appearance in Russia in 2018, the Saudi national team qualified for the this winter\u2019s finals in March this year. Another positive knock-on effect of the growth of sports entertainment has been a general uptake in health and fitness activities among the Saudi population. A new survey by Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Authority for Statistics has revealed that 48.2 percent of people across the country now practice physical and sporting activities for at least 30 minutes a week. This demonstrates a key milestone in creating a healthy, vibrant society in line with Vision 2030\u2019s Quality of Life Objectives. Another pillar of the Vision 2030 reform agenda has been to transform the role of women. Saudi Arabia has developed several strategies to include women in sports, including the establishment of a 24-team Women\u2019s Football League in 2020 and the launch of the first Women\u2019s Regional Football League the following year. Indeed, according to the Saudi Ministry of Sports, female participation in sports has increased by almost 150 percent since 2015. \u201cBy participating in athletic events, women achieve so much more,\u201d Hala Al-Hamrani, founder of the first female boxing gym in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News. \u201cTonight\u2019s boxing event is a big deal, but I\u2019m going mainly to watch the first two female undercards in Saudi Arabia.\u201d On said undercard, a major moment for women\u2019s boxing will see Somali-British prospect Ramla Ali become the first female boxer to feature in an official international event in Saudi Arabia, clashing with Crystal Garcia Nova over an eight-round super-bantamweight contest. \u201cI think that is a huge step forward because it\u2019s sending a message to the public that the government supports women competing in combat sports, which will in return allow families that were once reluctant to allow their girls to join in classes or different martial arts competitions to reconsider their position,\u201d said Al-Hamrani. Such events \u201chelp dissipate the idea that women shouldn\u2019t box,\u201d she added. \u201cThe undercard and the government\u2019s support is a big deal, showing that women\u2019s involvement in the sport in any way is no longer taboo.\u201d NEWS COLLECTED FROM ARAB NEWS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JEDDAH, Broadcasting news corporation : Saudi Arabia\u2019s coastal city of Jeddah was buzzing with excitement yet again on Saturday ahead of one of the biggest boxing rematches in sporting history, between Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and British fighter Anthony Joshua. Such scenes of anticipation are increasingly familiar in Saudi Arabia, as more and more international sporting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4845,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843\/revisions\/4845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}