Saudi Arabia’s sports authority announces events for upcoming Diriyah Season

Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority announced the Kingdom will be hosting international athletes in four different sports for the upcoming Diriyah Season.

Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki al-Faisal, chairman of General Sports Authority (GSA), said Saudi Arabia will host four events during the Diriyah Season in Formula E racing, tennis, equestrian, and boxing set to be held from Nov. 22 to Dec. 21.

The Formula E race will be held on Nov. 22 and 23 and will be the second year in a row in which the Kingdom will be hosting the race.

Eight of the world’s top tennis players will be competing for the Diriyah Tennis Cup from Dec. 12-14.

In the boxing event, Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr. will take on British boxer Anthony Joshua for the unified world heavyweight title.

The Diriyah Season will also host an equestrian event where 150 male and female riders will participate between Dec. 12-14 and Dec. 19-21. Saudi Arabia is expected to field riders during the event where participants can earn points toward qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“The huge success of last year’s #DiriyahFormulaE encouraged us to take Diriyah to a different level during this #DiriyahSeason,” said Prince Abdulaziz during the announcement.

“Last year, we opened our doors to tourists through the Sharek evisa system. This year our ambitions and dreams grew with the announcement of the upcoming Diriyah Season as the Kingdom opens its doors for visitors around the world to obtain a tourist visa to enter the Kingdom,” he added.

Saudi Arabia officially opened its doors last month to international visitors by offering tourist visas for the first time and announced it has attracted $30 bln in tourism investments, the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage said at the time.