The Saudi team raised its tally to 12 medals in the 20th Asian Games “Nagoya 2026”, after the competitions witnessed the addition of 5 new medals, most notably the gold in show jumping, in addition to a bronze in electronic sports and 3 bronze in jiu-jitsu.
The Saudi show jumping team clinched the gold medal in the equestrian competitions, with the participation of the quartet, Ramzi Al-Dahami, Khaled Al-Mubti, Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi, and Saad Al-Ajmi, giving Saudi Arabia its first gold medal in the tournament.
In e-sports, the Saudi team achieved a bronze medal in the “League of Legends” competitions, bringing the tally of Saudi e-sports in the tournament to 3 medals, one silver and two bronze.
Another batch of medals came through jiu-jitsu, after Khaled Habab, 17 years old, won a bronze medal in the under-62 kilogram weight, while his colleague Abdulmalik Al Mardi added another bronze medal in the same weight.
Mohammed bin Huraymel completed the Saudi jiu-jitsu tally by winning a bronze medal in the under-69 kilogram category, after winning the bronze medal fight, bringing the game’s tally to 3 bronze medals.
According to the attached medal table, the Saudi team ranks 24th in the overall standings, with one gold, two silver and 9 bronze medals, for a total of 12 medals.
Saudi medals have been distributed so far in 5 games. Athletics won two bronze medals, equestrian one gold, e-sports one silver and two bronze, jiu-jitsu three bronze medals, while karate won one silver and two bronze.
Thus, e-sports, jiu-jitsu, and karate have contributed most to the total number of Saudi medals, with 3 medals each, while equestrian has remained the only gold medalist for the Saudi team so far.
The Saudi national team will face Qatar, next Saturday, in the “Gulf 27” semi-final, based on a remarkable record in this round of the Gulf Cup tournaments, after it succeeded in surpassing the semi-finals in five of its previous seven matches, as shown by its participation records, against only two losses.
The next confrontation carries additional privacy, as it will be the third between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the semi-finals of the Gulf Championship, after the two previous confrontations ended with Saudi supremacy, the first more than half a century ago, and the second in the 2019 edition.
The Saudi team's semi-final confrontations against Qatar began on March 27, 1974, when Al-Akhdar won 3-1 in Kuwait, writing its first victories in this round against the Qatari team.
After 45 years, the date between the two teams was renewed in the semi-finals, specifically on December 5, 2019, when Saudi Arabia beat Qatar with a free goal in Al-Wakrah.
Thus, Al-Akhdar enters Saturday’s match with a perfect record against Qatar in the semi-final in particular, after achieving victory in the previous two matches, scoring four goals against one Qatari goal.
Aside from its confrontations with Qatar, the results of the Saudi team in the semi-finals reveal its success in surpassing this round five times out of seven previous matches.
After its first victory over Qatar 3-1 in 1974, the Saudi national team lost to the UAE 1-0 in Abu Dhabi on January 27, 2007.
Al-Akhdar returned two years later to reach the final through Kuwait, after defeating them with a goal-free goal in Muscat on January 14, 2009.
In the 2010 edition, Saudi Arabia and the UAE met in the semi-finals in Aden on December 2, and the Saudi team succeeded in resolving the confrontation with a goal to none.
The meeting with the Emirates was repeated again in the semi-finals of the 2014 edition, this time in Riyadh on November 23, and Al-Akhdar emerged victorious 3-2, in the highest-scoring match among their previous seven matches in this round, with five goals.
Then came the confrontation with Qatar in 2019, which ended with a 1-0 Saudi victory. The Greens then achieved their fourth successive victory in their semi-final matches, after defeating Kuwait in 2009, the UAE in 2010 and 2014, and then Qatar.
The series stopped in the last edition, when the Saudi team faced Oman in Kuwait on December 31, 2024, and lost 1-2, making it its second loss in the seven matches it played in this round, after losing to the Emirates in 2007.
In numbers, the Saudi national team played 7 previous matches in the Gulf Cup semi-finals, winning 5 and losing 2 matches, without any of them ending in a draw. During those matches, he scored 10 goals, while conceding 6 goals.
The UAE tops the list of teams facing Saudi Arabia the most in the semi-finals with three matches, the Greens won two of them by scores of 1-0 and 3-2, and lost one of them 0-1. Qatar faced two matches, which ended 3-1 and 1-0 with Saudi Arabia, while Al-Akhdar faced Kuwait and Oman once. It won against Kuwait 1-0 and lost to Oman 1-2.
With the arrival of “Gulf 27” to the semi-final station, the Saudi team will be facing it for its eighth appearance in this round according to the matches listed in the record, while Qatar will be facing it for the third time.
Between the 1974 confrontation, which ended with a Saudi hat-trick, and the 2019 victory with a single goal, Saturday comes to write the third chapter of the confrontations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the Gulf Cup semi-finals. A confrontation that Al-Akhdar enters after he passed through this station on five of seven previous occasions, and without Qatar having previously stopped him there.
The Arabian Gulf Cup Football Championship “Gulf 27” restores part of the memory of its former stars, by honoring a group of names that left their mark in Gulf football, after the national federations nominated distinguished sports figures to be honored on the sidelines of the tournament.
The list of candidates included the Saudi Muhammad Nour, the Bahraini Hamoud Sultan, the Yemeni Ali Al-Nono, the Qatari Ibrahim Khalfan, the Emirati Fahd Khamis, and the Iraqi Hussein Saeed, in addition to the Kuwaiti Football Association nominating its former international captain Saad Al-Houti.
The nominations came based on a letter from the Saudi Football Federation, in which the federations were asked to nominate a distinguished personality to be honored on the sidelines of “Gulf 27”, in an initiative that brings together names from different generations that are linked to the memory of football in the countries of the region.
The Kuwaiti Federation chose Saad Al-Houti, the former captain of the Kuwaiti national team, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to serving Kuwaiti football and the status and appreciation he enjoys in sports circles.
The Saudi presence bears the name of Muhammad Nour, while Hammoud Sultan was chosen from Bahrain, Ali Al-Nono from Yemen, Ibrahim Khalfan from Qatar, Fahd Khamis from the Emirates, and Hussein Saeed from Iraq.
Thus, the honoring initiative on the sidelines of “Gulf 27” turns into a space that brings together a number of prominent names in the history of Gulf football, at a time when Jeddah is witnessing the competitions of the current version of the tournament.
