Al-Ittihad is preparing to face Al-Shamal of Qatar in the AFC Elite Champions League, and Al-Faiha praises its performance despite the loss

The Al-Ittihad team delegation arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Saturday, in preparation for facing Al-Shamal, Qatar, on Monday, in the AFC Elite Champions League competitions.

On Sunday, the team will conduct its training session at the university stadium in Doha, with the players who participated as a starter against Al-Faisaly on Friday performing a recovery session, while the rest of the players continue their regular training program.

Hossam Aouar had arrived in Doha about two hours before the team’s mission, coming from Jeddah, after he was excluded due to injury from facing Al-Faisaly.

Informed sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the player is fully prepared to participate in the confrontation with Al-Shamal.

Al-Ittihad coach Jens Vissing will hold a press conference on Sunday to talk about the upcoming confrontation, before the team performs its final training at the World Cup stadium, Al-Bayt Stadium, which will host the match.

Malek Al-Abdul-Moneim, Al-Fayhaa striker, praised the level his team performed against Al-Ittihad in the sixth round of the Saudi Professional League, in the match that ended with Al-Ittihad’s narrow victory by two goals to one.

Al-Abdul-Moneim said in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat: “We played a great match against a team that is considered one of the strong clubs, and it is difficult to face it on its home soil. Also, its recent victory over Al-Nasr before facing us was a strong motivation for it. However, Al-Fayhaa presented an outstanding performance and wonderful tactical discipline on the field.”

He added: “Praise be to God in any case, and we seek to compensate, God willing, against Al-Shabab in the seventh round, and to be at our best, and to regain the points we lost before the international break, with the solidarity of everyone, including technical and administrative staff, and players.”

Regarding his technical and physical readiness, Al-Abd Al-Moneim confirmed that he is fully prepared, explaining that he participated in the last ten minutes of the last match against Al-Ittihad, and that he is in the service of the team and the technical staff, whether he participated as a starter, or sat on the bench, stressing that the most important thing for him is to score points and advance in the rankings.

Al-Abdul-Moneim extended his invitation to Al-Fayhaa fans in Riyadh to attend and support the team during this important stage of the league, stressing that the closeness between the teams in the middle of the standings and the teams in the last positions increases the difficulty of the competition, and doubles the importance of collecting points in order to secure the team’s position in the rankings.

Al-Fayhaa ranks 11th in the standings with five points, collected from a win and two draws, compared to three losses.

On Saturday morning, the competitions for the “Thanaya” category, the fourth category approved for participation in the Crown Prince Camel Festival 2026 in Taif, will begin, where the participating horses will compete over 20 rounds to cover a distance of 6 kilometers, while the organizing committee has allocated financial prizes that exceed the barrier of 5.3 million riyals in total.

According to the timetable, the competitions will be held in two periods. The “morning period” witnesses the holding of 16 rounds (4 open rounds and 12 general rounds) for which financial prizes are allocated estimated at 1.36 million riyals, while attention turns to the evening period, where 4 rounds are held for the Crown Prince Festival cups, for which prizes exceeding 4 million riyals have been allocated. The champion of the Crown Prince Cup round (Bakkar - General) gets the grand prize amounting to 700 thousand riyals.

The “Al-Thanaya” competitions come as one of the most important and decisive stages of the festival, which raises the pace of competition between the slogans before entering the final stage of the festival, which concludes its activities on Sunday, culminating a busy procession of strong races that has extended since the beginning of this September.

On the other hand, the mount “Tawari” owned by its Jordanian owner, Ahed Al-Zawida, wrote her name with a golden ink in the records of the Crown Prince Camel Festival, after achieving the title of the fourth round in the Arab races, the 4000th race in the history of the festival since its first launch in 2018.

This exceptional achievement came in conjunction with the morning competitions, as the festival entered the Friday competitions with 3,996 races held over the past editions, with “Tawari” breaking this historical barrier with a distinctive time of 8:28.907 minutes.

The morning period also witnessed a three-way competition, which resulted in the ten rounds allocated to the Arab countries being shared equally by the champions of Jordan, Egypt, and Sudan, while the horse “Hala” by its Sudanese owner, Al-Saleh Al-Jak Al-Tai, caught the spotlight by recording the best and fastest time in the morning period with a record time of 2:56.660 minutes.

The Jordanian camels imposed their strong presence with three successive performances, starting with the sitting “Al-Muhannad” for Ahed Al-Zawaida in the third round, followed by the riding “Tawari” in the fourth round, then the mount “Sham” for Mutaib Al-Zawaida in the fifth round, and the sitting “Adham” for Mutaib Al-Zawaida in the sixth round.

The Egyptian camels opened the competition with the mount “Khatafa” by Atef Al-Tarabin in the first round, followed by the mount “Cairo” by Suleiman Suwailem Eid in the eighth round, then the mount “Shaheen” by Muhammad Suleiman in the ninth round.

The Sudanese camels also won the first half through the mount “Fadwa” by Mohieddin Abdel Qader in the second half, then the mount “Bahaa” by Al-Amin Muhammad Al-Amin in the seventh round, and the excitement concluded with the mount “Hala” by Al-Saleh Al-Jak Al-Tai in the tenth and final round, achieving the best timing for the Arab rounds.

In turn, the “Haganah race” competitions for the human rider were not just ordinary races; Rather, it was an arena for writing history and creating new glories for four of the most prominent Saudi female and male hybrids. In a unique national painting, Bandar Al-Huwaiti, Rami Al-Balawi, Kholoud Al-Shammari, and Jozaa Al-Rashidi succeeded in grabbing the Crown Prince Festival Cup, for the first time in their professional history, adding this most expensive title to their previous records, declaring absolute Saudi control over gold.

Saudi Arabia’s Kholoud Al-Shammari drew a new chapter in the excellence of Saudi women in the sports of their fathers and grandfathers. Kholoud, whose historic achievement of the gold medal and the cup of the first Asian Camel Championship in the UAE city of Abu Dhabi, in addition to the World Endurance Championship title in AlUla, has not been forgotten by the camel community.

Al-Shammari entered the field, burdened with hopes and experience as a “camel,” and a camel owner, gently and humbled by the difficulties, as she led her mount, “Al-Bashar,” to capture the first women’s race for a distance of 2 kilometers in a record time of 3:13:46 minutes, embracing the Crown Prince’s Cup for the first time, to prove that previous achievements were merely a prelude to this historic coronation.

In the second half for women, Al-Hagana Jozaa Al-Rashidi had a rendezvous with fate, confirming that persistence works miracles.

Gemini, who began her real passion for human riding less than two years ago, and refined her talent through previous strong participations, most notably in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Camel Festival, has proven her mettle. With her “Mubasher” mount, she ran a breathtaking tactical race, finishing the race with a time of 3:21:65 minutes, decisively taking the lead and the most expensive title in her young career, and adding a historic trophy to her wardrobe.

At the level of the difficult men’s competition (5 km distance), veteran stuntman Bandar Al-Huwaiti confirmed that achievements do not come by chance.

Al-Huwaiti, the owner of the races and tours in the camel fields in the Kingdom, showed exceptional skill in the first half for the men. Thanks to his great harmony with the mount “Baraqa”, he was able to control the pace of running and cross the finish line in 8:38:38 minutes, to grab his first trophy at the Crown Prince Festival, giving his fans a historic moment that the arenas had been waiting for.

The second half for the men was no less exciting, as the experience of Al-Hagan Rami Al-Balawi was evident in dealing with the fierce Zamoul and Al-Tanaya Qadan half.

Al-Balawi has a legacy and a record of positive results in local races. He led the mount “Saib” with a smart tactic and used his mount’s energy until the final meters, finishing the race with a time of 8:45:06 minutes. This victory not only gave him the lead, but also gave him the trophy he had always planned for, to be crowned an extraordinary champion.