Yabuli, China, February 9, 2025: Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Vice President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, has a twin mission in Harbin – to cheer the Saudi athletes at the 9th Asian Winter Games and to observe how the Chinese hosts are running the showpiece.
“We are here to learn from the best. The Chinese model is one of the the best in the world when it comes to staging top-class sporting events like the Olympics, both summer and winter, as well as numerous other events including Harbin. We are here to watch and learn,” says Prince Fahd bin Jalawi.
Saudi Arabia will host the next edition of these games in Trojena in 2029 – a jaw-dropping achievement as it will be the first ever winter games in the Middle East. The mountains in Neom City will be turned into an ice and snow paradise.
“Of course, it would be a first for us, organizing such an event,” grinned Prince Fahd, looking around at the white expanses of mountainous terrain in Yabuli, the venue for the snow events. “But I can assure everyone that we will put on a good show.”
More than 20 officials from the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee as well as from the government make up the large Saudi delegation which over the course of the next few days, will be taking down numerous notes on how to run a world-class winter games operation.
It is not all about organisational and logistical details though. The Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee hopes that in four years, as host-nation they will be able to field athletes in all the winter sports.
This time they are fielding a small team of eight athletes in two sports. Curling has five male athletes and alpine skiing three, including two female athletes - Joud Farhoud and Shariffa Al Sudairi.
“We will be trying our best to have athletes in every sport by 2029. Winter sports are new for us, but we still have athletes in other sports like ice hockey back home. In four years we hope to have a bigger squad at the Asian Winter Games,” the SOPC Vice President noted.
He also hoped the rest of Asia would join in and send teams to Trojena. “In Harbin, we have a record number of National Olympic Committees participating – 34 – and I hope this number will increase for the next edition, especially more NOCs from West Asia.
“I want all our neighbours to come to Trojena in four years. We will put on a good show. We are here to learn from China how to do that,” Prince Fahd added.
