JEDDAH, 12 February 2007 — The 5th Jeddah International Skydiving Championship will be held March 23 to 30. The event is dubbed Championship of Sincerity in tribute to the governor of Makkah Province Prince Abdulmajeed, a strong supporter of aerial sports especially skydiving and who has just returned home after being abroad for medical treatment.
To enable many families to watch and enjoy the event organizers decided to stage the event at Durrat Al-Arus village which is 40 kilometers to the north of Jeddah.
More than 230 competitors from, Oman, Morocco, Egypt, Jordon, Syria, UAE, Algeria, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Brazil, Spain, Russia, Italy, India, Turkey, Pakistan, South Korea, Burney and hosts Saudi Arabia are seeing action in the eight-day championship.
Sincerity refers to the prince’s sincere support to the game since he was Madinah governor and when the first sky diving show was held in 1999 at the 1st Madinah Festival and afterwards during the Jeddah festivals. Moreover, the prince worked hard to give this event international fame and succeeded after two years when the International and Asian Federation approved it and Max Blshop, secretary-general at the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), came and handed the prince the Aviation Honorary Diploma Certificate for his support.
Maj. Mubarak Al-Suwailem, deputy president of the Arab Federation for Aerial Sports, said the event is going to be huge and “we have prepared the Kingdom team consisting of 14 Saudi skydivers for this championship.” “The door is still open for other countries to join and the deadline for registration is Feb. 15,” said Al-Suwailem. Sanctioned by the Asian Federation, FAI and the Saudi Aviation Club, the championship is being staged for the Prince Abdulmajeed ibn Abdulaziz Cup.
Meanwhile, the Arab Aerial Federation will hold its general assembly meeting for the first time in Jeddah from March 25 to 27. General Talaat Harb, president of the Arab Federation for Aerial Sports, will present to Prince Abdulamjeed the first trophy and medal given to Saudi Arabia from the federation in appreciation of his efforts to promote skydiving here. During the meeting they will discuss all the Arab countries’ inputs on how to make skydiving accessible to everyone. They will also approve the 2008 schedule of skydiving events.
