City rivals Al-Hilal and Al-Nasr come face to face in the 20th round of the Saudi Football League in a derby match today in Riyadh. Hilal enter the match with nine of their players back from national team duties making them hands-down favorites to win. Nasr will be hard pressed to come back from an embarrassing defeat against Wehda 3-2 in Makkah even though they had dropped out of contention for a spot in the final four.
The Saudi Football Federation, meantime, fined Al- Shabab club SR3,000 for delaying the start of their match against Al-Ittihad in Jeddah. The fine was imposed after referee Khalil Galal made a report to the federation about Shabab’s late arrival on the pitch.
With 44 points Shabab are way ahead of the pack with second-ranked Hilal on 38 points.
Ittihad jumped with 29 points from fourth place to third this week one point ahead of Al-Ahli who lost their game against Hilal 3-2.
Equestrian Event: Riyadh will host the annual King Abdul Aziz ibn Abdulrahman Al-Saud Cup today at the King Abdul Aziz Equestrian Field. The prestigious equestrian event will consist of six races.
“ We intend to have this race named after him because he was the first to encourage it in the Kingdom,” said Prince Miteb ibn Abdullah, assistant deputy commander of the National Guard for military affairs, and executive director at the Equestrian Club.
The racing program is as follows: First race (Prince Mohammed ibn Abdulrahman Al-Saud prize of SR36,000) 2,400 meters, second race (Prince Abdullah ibn Jluwi ibn Turki Al-Saud prize of SR52,000) 2,400-m, third race (Prince Abdulaziz ibn Jluwi Al-Saud prize of SR52,000) 1,800-m. Fourth race (Prince Abdulaziz ibn Musaed ibn Jluwi Al-Saud prize of SR52,000) 1,600 meters. Fifth race (Prince Fahd ibn Jluwi ibn Turki Al-Saud prize of SR52,000) 1,600-m, sixth race (King Abdul Aziz ibn Abdulrahman Al-Saud prize of SR400,000) 1,600-m. Equestrian Club general director in Riyadh Rashid Al-Zunaidi said, “the Equestrian Club had completed all arrangements needed to launch this race in an excellent way as people have been awaiting for it every year.”
1st General Security Sport Tournament: The 1st General Security Sport Tournament between districts all over the Kingdom ended on Wednesday. Around 418 participants joined competitions in volleyball, football, tennis, table tennis, karate and athletics. The Eastern Province general-security training city won table tennis, karate went to Makkah Province and Eastern Province topped volleyball.
Riyadh ruled athletics.
Suwailem Al-Urman from Riyadh emerged the meet’s fastest man by winning the 100 meters. In the other indivdual results, Asharaf Abu-Aseeda from Al-Madinah won the 400 meters Fawz Mansour from Madinah ruled the long distance running event. Madinah won the 4 X 100-meter relay race.
The aim of the tournament was achieved as shown by the huge number of participants who bonded with one another while trying to excel in the field of sports.
