RIYADH, 24 September — Sa’ad Al-Wallan, chairman of the Al-Wallan Group, Hyundai’s agent for the Central Province, presented yesterday a brand new Hyundai Accent to Dr. Shah Tariq Zoha, winner of the grand prize in the Arab News World Cup competition organized recently.
Sinnappu Ranganathan, an employee of Riyadh Palace Hotel, picked up the second prize of SR15,000 from Arab News, while Ms. Atika Bano, a Pakistani housewife from Karachi, collected the third prize of SR10,000, also donated by Arab News. They received the checks for the respective amount from Mowaffaq Khashoggi, supervisor of competitions at the Saudi Research & Publishing Co.
The presentation ceremony was held at the Hyundai showroom on Khurais Road. Besides Sa’ad Al-Wallan, those present also included Mowaffaq Khashoggi, Sami Ahmed of the Al-Wallan Group, Javed Akhtar, Arab News sports editor, and members of the Al-Wallan staff.
Congratulating the Arab News World Cup winners, Al-Wallan said his establishment has been working closely within the community and will continue to support such activities. "This has been a key factor in our success. This philosophy has helped us in achieving the ‘Best Distributor in Africa and Middle East Markets’ award," he said, adding that Hyundai Accent has emerged as one of the leading models in the Kingdom’s small passenger car segment.
He pointed out that the Arab News World Cup competition was specially relevant to them, since Hyundai Motor Company was a major sponsor of the World Cup event held in South Korea and Japan held in June this year. "As a sponsor of the World Cup, we were able to link the strength of sports and the glamour of athletes with our image, and our unique sports marketing program brought maximum exposure of the Hyundai brand to the world.
The publicity mileage gained during the promotional blitz enabled Hyundai Motor Company to achieve sales of 803,342 units in the first half of 2002 compared to 802,508 units in the same period last year. "In conclusion, I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the winners, and particularly to Dr. Shah Tariq Zoha, who has won the first prize of a Hyundai Accent."
Speaking on occasion, Javed Akhtar, sports editor , congratulated the winners of the car and cash prizes and said Arab News has always been in the forefront for the promotion of sporting events. He said that thanks to the initiative of Khaled Al-Maeena, editor in chief, Arab News was able to sponsor several tournaments relating to cricket, basketball, tennis, table tennis and squash "Al-Maeena has pioneered cricket at the grassroots level by sponsoring schools’ cricket tournaments all over the Kingdom," he said.
He pointed out that Arab News support for these tournaments had enabled it to carve out a niche for itself as the Kingdom’s premier English daily. An additional factor was the newspaper’s own website that put readers around the world in touch with national, regional and international news.
The large volume of e-mail and letters to the editor that the newspaper receives on a daily basis are a standing testimony to its popularity beyond the Kingdom’s borders, he added.
