Athletes from around the country are competing to secure their spot at the Kingdom’s biggest sporting event to date.

RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | 4 September 2022: The race is on! There’s only one week to go for athletes to secure their place in the very first Saudi Games happening later this year.

Featuring over 6,000 athletes from more than 200 national clubs, the upcoming Saudi Games 2022 is scheduled to take place in Riyadh between 27 October and 7 November 2022.

During the tournament, participants will compete in 45 individual and team sport competitions, including five para-sports contests.

In recent days, athletes have been taking part in try-outs across Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, in various games including kart racing, billiards, bowling, badminton, squash, and fencing.

And some of the first participants confirmed for the Saudi Games 2022 comprise 15 kart racing competitors – with one spot remaining to be confirmed upon nomination – 15 billiards players, 28 male and female bowlers, 30 male and female badminton players, 15 squash athletes, and 40 female fencers.

Trials for the Saudi Games 2022 – which kicked off on 15 August 2022 – are scheduled to continue until 10 September. In the coming days, try-outs are expected to take place across more sporting disciplines around the country, including in Riyadh, Jeddah, Al-Khobar, Dammam and Jubail.

Qualifiers for the Saudi Games 2022 cover 23 sports, with upcoming events spotlighting chess (Dammam and Riyadh), esports (nationwide), darts (Jeddah), sailing (Jubail), padel (Riyadh), taekwondo (Riyadh), billiards (Jeddah), Baloot (Riyadh), rowing (Jubail and Al-Khobar), cycling (Riyadh and Dammam), triathlon (Jeddah, Riyadh and Al-Khobar), athletics (Riyadh), tennis (Riyadh and Al-Khobar), Muay Thai (Riyadh), weightlifting (Jeddah), and table tennis (Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah).