RIYADH: King Salman has visited the closing ceremony on Thursday of the 28-day King Abdul Aziz Camel Festival at the Saudi Camel Village, 120 km northeast of Riyadh.
The king was received on his arrival by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz binSaud bin Naif, General Supervisor of the King Abdul Aziz Camel Festival Dr. Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Sammari, and a number of officials.
King Salman inaugurated the 8km King Abdul Aziz Camel Race Field, which includes seven tracks, and has room for 100 camels and 200 cars.
King Salman welcomed Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Oman’s Minister of Sports Affairs Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al-Saadi and other guests at the camel festival’s closing ceremony.
King Salman joined the audience to watched the last two rounds of camel racing and then handed prizes to winners of the King Abdul Aziz award for Camel Pageantry and the King Abdul Aziz Camel Race award.
King Salman and the attendees also watched a performance of the theater show, Camel in Our World, and then the folk dance known as Saudi Ardah was performed.
The Saudi national anthem was played at the end of the ceremony, which had been attended by a number of princes, ministers and senior civil and military officials.
Winning camels were as follows:
First in open rounds (ZUMUL): Al-Aber, from Presidency camels, owned by Sheikh Khalifa, president of the UAE.
First in general rounds (ZUMUL): Al Naba, owned by Hamad bin Rashid Al-Ketbi, from the UAE.
First in general rounds (Heil): E’tidal, owned by Khalid bin Faisal Al-Marri.
First in open rounds (Heil): Asima, from Presidency camels, owned by Sheikh Khalifa, president of the UAE.
