Most of the Saudi sports federation officials agreed the country could have done better than the 13 medals, including five golds, it won in the regional quadrennial event.
Pleased but not satisfied with the overall performance of the Saudi contingent, officials blamed the delayed release of the budget for training camp for the unsatisfactory performance of the athletes. They say budget was released only three months before the start of the Games, causing chaos and putting unnecessary stress on athletes and preventing them from being able to train properly.
Federation officials complained about the delay to the point they had wanted to beg off from participating. But Asian Games being an international commitment athletes had no choice but to be there eventually, compete and do their best.
The  Saudis had entries in 21 events: artistic gymnastics (5 athletes), snooker & billiards (11), cycling (9), handball (16), judo (5), shooting (16), swimming (3), table tennis (4), tennis (4), weightlifting (5), volleyball (12), fencing (9), boxing (4), water polo (13), taekwondo (5), athletics (27), equestrian (4), squash (4), karate (4) and, for the first time, golf (4).
Saudi Arabia did not win any medal until the fifth day of the competition when it won the gold in the team show jumping event in equestrian. On the same day, athletics struck through Yasir Al-Nashri and Yousif Masrahi who won the silver medal in the men’s 100 meters and bronze in the 400 men’s meters.
The Kingdom won its second gold medal on the sixth day of the Asiad, when long distance specialist Mohammed Shaween romped off with the gold in the men’s 1,500 meters to go with the bronze by Ali Al-Amri in the 3,000 meters steeplechase.
Equestrian produced the second gold for Saudi Arabia on Nov. 24 when veteran rider Ramzy Al-Duhami won the individual show jumping with teammate Khaled Al-Eid taking the bronze. Another bronze was added to the Saudi tally on the day courtesy of young karateka Emad Al-Malki in the men’s -55kg. category. The next day, hurdler Bandar Sharahili took the silver medal in the 400-m hurdles and Fahad Al-Khathami the  bronze in the -67kg. category in karate.
Saving its best for last, athletics scored a golden double when Sultan Al-Habashi claimed the shotput gold and the 4 x 400m relay team likewise got the gold on the final day of track and field competition.
Prince Nawaf bin Mohammad, the Kingdom’s deputy head of mission to the 16th Asian Games and president of the Saudi Arabian Athletics Federation, said: “ We are happy most of the medals came from athletics, but the equestrian team and karate did very well too. And hopefully the situation will become better for the other federations because it’s a huge responsibility. And its about time for Prince Sultan bin Fahd, president of the General Presidency of Saudi Youth Welfare, to reconsider who should head these federations to help in developing them and bringing more success at the international level.”
Saudi volleyball team, bronze medal winner at 15th Asian Games in Doha, could only place 7th after downing Qatar 3-0 and winning only four out of nine matches. Its manager,Saleh Al-Qasim, said the delay in training was the culprit for the team’s failure to win a medal.
Another bronze medalist of the previous Games, the water polo team, also missed out on the medals at 7th position after beating Hong Kong 20-11.
“We lost new blood on the team this year. We didn’t have much time to gather and train but one thing that for sure made a difference, albeit a slight one, is having  sports psychologist Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulaiman who has helped our team and the volleyball team earn medals in the 15th Asian Games,” said water polo player Adel Al-Malki.
Mohammad Ghallab, water polo team manager,  agreed and added sports psychologist are needed all throughout the season and not only during a championship.   He also said that having two of their key players, Salim Shaheen and Waleed Al-Zahrani,  suspended due to doping a few months ago affected   performance of the team.
The handball federation fielded a young team which surprised everyone with a fourth-place finish.
“By qualifying for the semifinal we were proven right when we allowed young players to compete,” said Saudi handball team manager Mohammed Al-Muneaa adding the void left by key player Bandar Al-Harbi due to injury was ably filled by Hussain Al-Muhsin, Mohammed Salim and Ahmad Al-Ali.