JEDDAH, 31 December 2004 — Tragedy struck the Saudi sports world when national soccer team and Al-Hilal standout Saad Muhammad Al-Dosssary died in a car accident yesterday.
In deference to his death the long-awaited clash between rivals Hilal of Riyadh and Al-Ittihad of Jeddah in the King Fahd Cup today in Riyadh was postponed to a later date.
According to police reports reaching Arab News, the veteran player died on the spot when the BMW car he was driving at top speed flipped over after the front tire burst throwing him 80 meters away from the scene of the accident.
One of his traveling companions, Khaled Al-Dossary, also died on the accident scene, and the third passenger Turki Al-Ammar was in serious condition and with broken ribs at the King Fahd Hospital in Al-Ahsa province where he was brought. The player died at 9:15 a.m.
According to traffic officials, Saad and his friends were coming from the Eastern Province to Riyadh traveling on the Dammam-Riyadh highway. The accident happened 180 kilometers away from Riyadh. Police theorized the accident could have been caused by a pointed object that punctured the tire causing it to burst, and as a result the driver lost control of the wheel.
The highway patrol turned over the dead bodies to King Fahd Hospital in Al-Ahsa.
According to doctors at the hospital, Saad died from head injuries which resulted in severe internal bleeding. The other casualty, doctors added, also died from similar injuries. The manager of the ambulance department at the hospital said that the final medical report would be released tomorrow.
Saad was last seen at Hilal club on Wednesday where he did training before taking permission from Hilal officials to drive his family to the Eastern Province. Saad participated in the last match against Al-Ansar of Madinah in Madinah, which ended 3-1 in favor of Hilal.
Al-Dossary began his professional career at Riyadh Club. In 2002 he transferred to Al-Ahli and helped the team win titles in the Crown Prince and Prince Faisal ibn Fahd cups, Sadaqa international tournament and Arab Championship. He transferred to Hilal in Riyadh in 2003 until he died. He played with the Saudi national team in many occasions including the Asian championship in Lebanon in 2000 and 17th Gulf Cup, which was held in Qatar recently.
