JEDDAH, 19 May 2004 — Walid Al-Roumah of Riyadh was crowned Saudi Arabia’s “Local Hero” in inline skating at the final held at the Ministry of Education Stadium complex on Friday.
Abdul Karim Othman of Alkhobar and Houssam Sawaha of Riyadh respectively won second and third places.
The final round staged outside the stadium, near the Square Bridge on Madinah road, from May 4-14 attracted a big crowd, with fans cheering up for their favorite heroes.
Held under the supervision of General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW), the tournament, organized by Red Bull, featured its initial rounds in Alkhobar, Riyadh and Jeddah in April.
Twenty-five competitors took part in the final round, in addition to six winners from Alkhobar and Riyadh. A group of experts in the game and referees assigned by the Asian Skating Federation including Sameh Al-Ghoesh and Rawa Yousif of the UAE supervised the final round.
“By all measures it is the most successful tournament in skating sport organized in the Kingdom,” Muhammed Salem Al-Metab, GPYW’s local director of sports activities, said. It helped discover several talented Saudi youth in the game. Huge spectator participation was among the distinguishing features of the tournament.
“On our part, we do encourage the youth to practice this sport, which is growing in popularity. We also appreciate the substantial role played by Red Bull in organizing this tournament and giving an impetus to this non-traditional game,” he added.
Abdul Razak Maaz Saad, head of physical education at the local education department, said the tournament offered a unique opportunity to the youth as it effectively helped to discover talents in this sport like in football and basketball. The tournament was organized to attract youth to play the game in a disciplined and pleasant manner rather than practicing it on the streets.
Red Bull imported special bumpers and obstacles from Europe for training young sports lovers interested in the game.
The three tournament rounds resulted in discovering talents enabling them to take part in regional skating tournaments, with GPYW’s support to this game at both popular and official levels.
Muhammed Salem Al-Metab, Mohammed Zaki Nawawi, head of the subcommittee for karate in the Western Province, and Youssef Al-Quraishi, general manager of Al-Quraishi Marketing, Red Bull’s distribution partner in the Kingdom, distributed trophies, prizes and certificates to winners, participants and organizations that have extended support to the tournament.
“We’ve realized the objective for which we organized the tournament,” Bassem El Zein, Red Bull communications manager for Saudi Arabia & Yemen, said. “The response shown by the youth to Red Bull’s efforts to select the Kingdom’s hero in Inline Skating was tremendous,” he said, adding that the tournament contributed to the awareness among youth that the game should be practiced in an organized and professional manner. All participants received intensive training in accordance with the established rules of the game.
The Austrian leading Energy Drink has been sponsoring various sports in the Middle East in general and the Kingdom in particular. It sponsors more than 300 champions worldwide and is also involved in developing the sport skills of Arab youth.
