The Saudi Special Olympics unified football team achieved a historic achievement by winning first place and the gold medal at the Special Olympics Unified Football World Championship held in Detroit, USA, defeating the Romanian team 3-1 in the final match.
During the tournament, Al-Akhdar players presented outstanding levels, thus confirming their readiness for this international forum, which includes teams from Brazil, Jamaica, Korea, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Romania, Singapore and America, and won gold in the competition after how they overtook outstanding competitors, the last of which was the Romanian team where it happened. The victory is the culmination of this distinguished career during championship competition.
After finishing the match and winning first place and a gold medal, Special Olympics Regional President Engineer Ayman Abdel Wahab congratulated Her Royal Highness Princess Rima bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Mosques in the United States of America, Member of the International Olympic Committee and Honorary President of the Special Olympics Saudi Arabia. This is a great achievement and he congratulated the players and their technical staff after the end of the match.
In turn, National Director of Saudi Special Olympics Abdul Rahman Al Quraishi congratulated the players, technical and administrative staff and members of the Saudi mission, praising the efforts made by everyone to achieve this achievement and obtain world gold.
Meanwhile, Special Olympics International President Dr. Timothy Shriver congratulated Al-Akhdar on his victory and all the participants for what they presented during the matches of the tournament, pointing out that the medical examination program for players participating in the tournament, during which medical examinations were signed for players of 22 countries participating in the cup, of both sexes.
During a meeting with Special Olympics International Regional President Engineer Ayman Abdel Wahab and the heads of delegations of Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, he praised the results achieved by the four countries representing the region, Saudi Arabia’s victory of the gold medal, Egypt retained the bronze medal won by them in the 2018 Cup, the UAE took silver and Morocco came in fourth, marking the strong activity of Special Olympics in the region.
He said: “Despite what the world has been subjected to due to the Covid pandemic and the cessation of sporting activities, the Middle East region has been able to organize many events remotely during this pandemic, in addition to the constant increase in various events. .”