Saudi Games

The Saudi Games is an annual sport event held at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and one of the initiatives of the Quality of Life Program, which is one of the Saudi Vision 2030 Realization Programs. It is overseen by the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The first edition of the games was held in Riyadh City in 2022.

The history of the Saudi Games dates back to February 26, 2020, when the Ministry of Sport and the Saudi Olympic Committee (Currently the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee) announced the launch of first edition of the Saudi Games as part of the Quality of Life Program, overseen by Committee. The games were originally scheduled to take place from March 23 to April 1, 2020, in the capital, Riyadh. By the end of March 2020, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the first edition commenced, the Saudi Games Torch visited all thirteen provinces of Saudi Arabia, as well as numerous entities, facilities, and locations, totaling around eighty- three sites. The torch covered more than 3,500 km over a period of fifty days to introduce the games, their objectives, and their messages, as well as to attract participants from around Saudi Arabia.

The organizing supreme committee of the first Saudi Games edition announced on February 8, 2022, the dates for the new edition to be held from March 10 to March 20, 2022, in Riyadh city. They also approved the sports events, registration schedules, and qualification trials for the competitions of the games.

To allow more athletes the opportunity to participate and to hold qualification trials over a longer period of time, the committee announced the postponement of the event to be held from October 27 to November 7, 2022. The Saudi Games officially commenced on October 27, 2022.

Road race (bicycle) within the Saudi Games. (Saudipedia)

After evaluating sports across the provinces of Saudi Arabia based on technical aspects, the popularity of the game, sports standards, and the regulations of the International Olympic Committee and international federations, it was decided to adopt forty-five sports in the first edition of the games. These include handball, futsal, judo, wrestling, taekwondo, karate, jiu-jitsu, squash, gymnastics, archery, Thai boxing, boxing, bowling, swimming, indoor rowing, table tennis, badminton, triathlon, volleyball, and basketball.

Also approved are athletics, weightlifting, fencing, skateboarding, paddle, bridge, chess, camel and equestrian sports (endurance and show jumping), three-by-three basketball, beach volleyball, sport climbing, cycling, golf, along with PUBG Mobile, billiards, tennis, karting, sailing, shooting, goalball, paralympic table tennis, paralympic weightlifting, wheelchair basketball, and para-athletics.

The first Saudi Games edition included registered players from Saudi sports federations and clubs, gathering over six thousand athletes, coaches, and administrators from thirteen provinces of Saudi Arabia. Each gold medalist received SAR1 million, each silver medalist received SAR300,000, and the bronze medalist received a prize of SAR100,000.

The mascot of the first edition of the Saudi Games symbolizes the Arabian leopard, aiming to raise awareness about preserving it from extinction and to introduce the goals of the Arabian Leopard Fund, as part of the Kingdom's efforts to protect Arabian leopards after they were listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an endangered species. The mascot bears in its center the emblem of the games, composed of the colors of the Olympic rings and the Arabian leopard.

The second edition of the Saudi Games was held from November 26 to December 10, 2023, in the capital, Riyadh. More than eight thousand male and female athletes representing over two hundred clubs from across Saudi Arabia participated in the competitions. They also competed in fifty-three sports, including six paralympic sports and four new exhibition sports. Additionally, a new youth category comprising twelve sports was introduced.

Riyadh hosted the third edition of the Saudi Games in 2024, which took place from October 3 to October 17, 2024. The event saw the participation of 200 clubs competing in 45 individual and team sports, including five sports dedicated to Paralympic athletes.