JEDDAH, 20 July 2007 — Saudi Arabia will host the third round in the Formula 2000 World Championship for powerboats. The event will take place during the Obhur Tourism Festival from Oct. 16 to 18 coinciding with the Eid Al-Fitr holidays.
Saudi Arabia, however, will not enter the competition. Seeing action are 20 teams from 10 countries namely United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Norway, United States and Latvia.
“There will be a federation for Marine Sports in the near future,” said Saleh Al-Duayji, director of the Saudi Youth Welfare office in Jeddah, in a press conference on Tuesday. “However, all marine activities take place through us. The Saudi Youth Welfare is the organization that coordinated with the Supreme Commission for Tourism to run this event.”
Prince Abdullah ibn Saud ibn Mohamed, head of the executive committee for the festival, said that the event would contribute in putting the Kingdom and Jeddah especially in the world tourism map. Entrance for watching the event is open for the public, families and men, and will be free of charge.
“I hope the championships in the following years will involve Saudi drivers. Marine sports are still new in the Kingdom,” the prince said.
As per competition rules the weight of the boat must not exceed kg 470 and a speed of km110/h, length of 6m and width of 2,5 meters. The points are counted depending on the number of winning rounds. The first place gets 20 points and the 10th 2 points.
Abdul Salam Fairooz, managing director of Formula World Sports, said that Jeddah sea has all the qualities that makes these competitions successful and even better than those in the gulf of UAE and other GCC countries.
Participants in this competition had to win six local races before they are given a license to race, according to Gordon Sutherland, an expert at the Union of International Motonautique UIM.
Prince Abdullah assured that there would be a committee to look after the safety of the participants and the attendees. There will also be coordination with the traffic department to avoid traffic jams and allow parking spaces for the cars.
