The 20th Asian Summer Games, hosted by the Japanese city of Nagoya starting on the nineteenth of last September, concluded on Sunday with the Saudi Arabian Show Jumping Equestrian Team winning three colorful medals.
Veteran Saudi rider Ramzi Al-Dahami snatched first place and the gold medal in the second group of the individual show jumping competition, which was held at a height of (1.55 metres), with a time of 42.59 seconds and without errors, while his fellow rider Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi snatched second place and the silver medal, with a time of 39.73 seconds and eight errors, leaving the bronze to the Qatari team rider.
In the first group competitions, which were held at a height of 1.45 metres, the knight, Khaled Al-Mubti, won the bronze medal with a time of 45.35 seconds, while Qatar won the gold, and the UAE won the silver.
Al-Dahami said that experience played a role in clinching the gold medal in the individual round after he entered the distinction round and sought not to put pressure on “Al-Khail” as he was tired and so as not to make mistakes, while his success in not making mistakes in the decisive round constituted a pressure factor for his competitors who sought not to make mistakes while striving to excel in time.
He explained in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that he will continue to be present in equestrian competitions, whether in the next Asian Games scheduled for Doha or the next one in Riyadh.
Al-Dahami dedicated the victory achieved to the Saudi leadership, the Ministry of Sports, the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the head of the Equestrian Federation, his mother, his family, and the Saudi people in general.
turn; The Saudi Jiu-Jitsu team player, Abdul Malik Al Mardi, raised the green flag at the closing ceremony of the tournament, which was held at Paloma Mizuho Stadium, in the presence of Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad, President of the Olympic Council of Asia and President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, who received the flag of hosting the next edition of the Doha 2030 tournament.
The ceremony witnessed a number of artistic performances and video clips that covered the most important events of the tournament, in addition to a speech by the Olympic Council of Asia and a speech by the organizing committee.
The Saudi team’s participation in the Japanese Asian Games “Nagoya 2026” topped the list of Asian tournaments with the most medals won in the name of the Kingdom, after Saudi athletes won 17 various medals, thus raising the historical tally in the Asian tournaments from 71 medals to 88 medals.
Five sports contributed to the number of medals reaching this number, with four medals for equestrian show jumping (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), 5 medals for jiu-jitsu (2 gold, 3 bronze), three medals for electronic sports (1 silver, 2 bronze), the same for karate (1 silver, 2 bronze), and two bronzes for athletics.
This number of achievements not only exceeded the medal numbers of the previous cycles, but also exceeded the number of medals targeted for this cycle, “Nagoya 2026,” which was announced during the press conference of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee held at the beginning of last September, in which Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Baeshen, CEO and Secretary-General, said that the committee aims to obtain 9-12 medals.
It also recorded the emergence of new talents, the most important of which is Saudi Jiu-Jitsu team player Abdullah Nada and his colleague Khaled Habab, in addition to swimming stars Imad Al-Zaben, Rami Al-Rahmouni, and Dina Ahmed in karate.
Because the language of numbers shows the extent of the development of an athlete’s technical level, especially in swimming and athletics, new achievements in swimming were recorded in this tournament, most notably, achieving qualification for the swimming final more than 3 times, noting that the only recorded qualification for one of the finals of the swimming competition was in the Doha edition in 2006, in addition to the recording of the Saudi Athletics Team player, runner Heba Muhammad, for a new personal record in the 100m race, after she completed the race with a time of 12.02 seconds, thus breaking Its previous record was 12.05 seconds.
Returning to the numbers in swimming, the Saudi team broke the national record for the 4 x 100m relay race twice in a row in this tournament, achieving the first historic qualification for the swimming relay to the final and completing the race with a time of 3:20.60 minutes, in addition to breaking the national record for the 50m freestyle race twice in a row in one day by Imad Al-Zaben with a time of 22.11 seconds, as well as Rami Al-Rahmouni breaking the national record for the 1500m race. Freestyle with a time of 14:55.32 minutes, about a minute and a half ahead of the previous record, which was 16:32.64 minutes.
Winning priorities are taken into account in evaluating the effectiveness of the committee’s programmes, strategies and initiatives, and showing their impact on the athletes’ results, the most important of which is achieving the first Saudi medal in the hammer toss competition in athletics by Muhammad Al-Dabisi, and recording the first historic victory for Saudi wrestling in the Asian tournaments, as well as for squash.
On the level of women's sports, the tournament witnessed the achievement of the first Saudi women's medal in the history of the Asian Championships for adults, by Dina Ahmed in karate, as well as the women's padel team achieving the first historic victory in the Asian Games.
It is noteworthy that the Kingdom has achieved 88 medals since its first participation in the Asian Games in 1978 AD until today, including: one medal in New Delhi 1982 AD, Seoul 1986 AD, and Beijing 1990 AD, nine medals in Hiroshima 1994 AD, the same in Busan 2002 AD, 14 medals in Doha 2006 AD, and 13 medals in Guangzhou. 2010 AD, 7 medals in Inchon 2014 AD, 6 medals in Jakarta 2018 AD, 10 medals in Hangzhou 2022 AD, and 17 medals in Nagoya 2026 AD, which placed it in eighteenth place in the overall standings of the tournament.
After reaching the final of the twenty-seventh Gulf Cup, sports memory recalls images of the golden generation of the Saudi national team, which inaugurated its glories in the ancient tournament, where the national formations were crowded with heavy names and great weight on the field.
In the finals and decisive matches of the 1994, 2002, and 2003 tournaments, the Saudi squad was distinguished by names as big as players: Sami Al-Jaber, Mohammed Al-Deayea, Fouad Anwar, and Fahd Al-Harifi, then Nawaf Al-Temyat, Mohammed Nour, and Yasser Al-Qahtani. These names were not just tactical elements in the coaches’ lineup, but rather “super” stars who possessed individual prestige and the ability to resolve complex confrontations with one touch.
This individual momentum did not stop with the first three generations of coronation, but rather extended for many years during which the leadership figure of the team was formed in the 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2019 finals, with the participation of football figures such as Osama Hawsawi, Saud Kariri, Tayseer Al-Jassim, Salman Al-Faraj, and Salem Al-Dossary, where the media and public presence was closely linked to the presence of the net star who was in the spotlight, and whose shoulders bore the weight of expectations. And pressure during major appointments; This always gave Al-Akhdar a unique character that intimidated competitors before the starting whistle.
On the other hand, the Saudi national team enters the 2026 Gulf Cup final against its Emirati counterpart with a completely different scene that reflects a radical shift in the philosophy of building the group, as the current lineup is devoid of first-class names or players who are classified as net stars according to “super star” standards. The current circumstances have produced a lineup whose strength depends on the elements of passion, evidential desire, and collective spirit, far from relying on individualism or a loud public name that plays the role of the usual savior.
This contrast between the past and the present puts the anticipated final under the microscope of artistic and media comparison. While yesterday's finals were managed with the skill of experts and the weight of the names that were experienced at the summits, today's final is fought by a young battalion armed with systemic integration and tactical discipline, in an attempt to redefine the concept of sporting success and to confirm that the strength of the "Green" lies in its shirt and its historical identity, and is not limited to the presence of specific brilliant names.
The sports street is eagerly looking forward to seeing whether this group, devoid of a popular star, is able to make a real difference and write a new chapter in the records of the beloved tournament, as this match gives the promising group the opportunity to prove that the fighting spirit and collective effort sometimes outweigh individual solutions, and that podiums do not necessarily require the presence of a “super” player as much as it requires a group that knows how to win the finals.
The decisive confrontation against the Emirates does not merely represent a competition for a new Gulf championship to be added to the coffers of Saudi football, but rather a real test of the extent of the success of betting on collectiveness in the face of a history filled with immortal names, as this generation seeks to inaugurate its own stardom from the big door, and to move from the category of the young squad to embracing glory and returning the absent continental title to the corridors of Riyadh.
