JEDDAH, 28 May 2007 — The homing pigeon racing season ended this month. Eighteen championships were held and attracted more than 2,000 competitors from the Kingdom’s seven homing pigeon racing centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsaa, Al-Qasim and Makkah.
Prince Abdulrahman ibn Abdullah Al-Faisal was elated at the interest the event generated including from the youth sector. The prince thanked the president of the Saudi Youth Welfare Prince Sultan ibn Fahd and his deputy Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal for their continued support to this indigenous sport.
Also, Prince Abdulrahman thanked the Al-Faisaliah Group and kingdom Holding Company for their financial contribution that ensured success of the event.
There were 18 events contested during the season. In the Best Competitor Championship in the Kingdom, first place went to Massarah Farms of Riyadh, second to Taggi Al-Yousif of Qatif, third to Mishaal Al-Olayan of Dammam, fourth to Hussain Al-Hakim of Qatif and fifth to Aqeel Ajaj of Qatif.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Deghari a competitor from Al-Qasim Center said he was not very pleased with his center’s performance. “Though we have many new amateurs joining our center, they lack the element of experience. This resulted in only two competitors in the Kingdom Championship,” he said.
Abdullah Al-Qahtani of Riyadh was champion in the Hail International Race. Abdullah Al-Nashar placed second, while Massarah Farms of Riyadh came in third and again Abdullah Al-Qahtani in fourth place followed by Mansour Magliyah of Makkah in the fifth place.
The Kingdom Open Championship winners were: Abdurab Al-Rasoul Al-Obaid from Qatif, Abdullah Al-Doussari from Dammam, Matoug Al-Salman from Qatif, Hussain Al-Hakim from Qatif and Hussain Al-Dahi from Qatif.
Abdurab Al-Rasoul Al-Obaid from Qatif was also champion of the Eastern Province Championship. Second place went to Matoug Al-Salman, third to Abdullah Al-Doussari, fourth to Saad Al-Doussari and fifth to Yousif Al-Shuwaier. The Western Province Championship successors in addition were champion Talal Bahrawi. Second runner-up were Khalid and Mohammed Al-Harbi, third Mansour and Tawfeeg Maqliyah, fourth Zajil Al-Salamah and fifth Suwailem Al-Rashidi.
First place in the Riyadh Centre Championship went to Mazari Massarah, second to Zajil Al-Badeah, third to Abdulaziz Al-Hamid, and fourth to Zajil Al-Wusta. In the Jeddah Center Championship Khalid and Mohammad Al-Harbi clinched first place.
They were followed by Abdulaziz and Mohammed Al-Shaafi, third Zajil Al-Salamah, fourth Abdullah and Faisal Al-Hassan and fifth Mansour Abu Ras. Talal Bahrawi won first place in the Makkah Center Championship. Second place went to Saud Al-Masri, third to Mansour Magliyah, fourth to Ahmed Madani, and fifth to Abdulrazzag Kashmiri.
In the Dammam Center Championship, Yousif Al-Shuwaier’s pigeons finished first, second came Mishaal Al-Olayan, third Tagi Al-Yousif, fourth Khamis Moussa, and fifth Sharif Al-Doussari. The Al-Qatif Center Championship winner was Yousif Al-Shuwaier with Khalid Buhmail, Taggi Al-Yousif, Mishal Al-Olayan and Abdullah Al-Doussari rounding out the five winners.
In Al-Ahsaa Center Championships Sami Al-Safraa, Zjil Al-Sahraa, Nassir Al-Muagil, Yousif Al-Idan, and Hussain Al-Salman were the winners. The winners in Al-Qassim Centre Championship were, Moussa Al-Mubrak, Ali Al-Jitaili, Sultan Al-Zajil, Yahya Al-Thiyab, and Abdullah Al-Deghari.
The first five winners in the Golden Partridge (bobwhite) Championship for short distance were Jamal Al-Omani from Ahsaa, Massarah Farms from Riyadh, Mishaal Al-Olayan from Dammam and Taggi Al-Youssif from Qatif.
In the intermediate distance race the major prizes went to Aqeel Ajaj and Taggi Al-Youssif from Qatif, Massarah Farms from Riyadh, Faisal Al-Khaldi from Dammam, and Massarah Farms.
Taggi Al-Yousif from Qatif was winner in the long distances race. Second place went to Khalid Al-Masari from Dammam, third to Hussain Al-Dhahi from Qatif, fourth to Abdullah Al-Doussari from Dammam and fifth to Hussain Al-Hakim from Qatif. Best Loft awards for short distance races went to Al-Massarah Farms of Riyadh, Taggi Al-Yousif of Qatif, Mishaal Al-Olayan of Dammam, Jamal Al-Omani of Ahsaa and Aqeel Ajjaj of Qatif. The awardees in the intermediate distance races were Massarah Farms of Riyadh, Abdurab Al-Rasoul Al-Obaid of Qatif, Mishaal Al-Olayan of Dammam, Aqeel Ajjaj of Qatif and Taggi Al-Yousif of Qatif.
The long distance races awards went to Hussain Al-Hakim of Qatif, Taggi Al-Yousif of Qatif, Khalid Al-Misari of Dammam, Hussain Al-Dhahi of Qatif and Abdullah Al-Doussari of Dammam.
