Countdown begins to Saudi Games 2023

This year’s Saudi Games gets underway on Thursday, with a busy program of volleyball and kiteboarding. (Supplied)

• Volleyball, kiteboarding take centre stage on opening day
• Al-Nassr take on Al-Hilal in first women’s volleyball match at 9 a.m. Thursday

RIYADH: This year’s Saudi Games gets underway on Thursday, with a busy program of volleyball and kiteboarding.
The volleyball competition will be held in the Green Hall at the Prince Faisal bin Fahad Olympic Complex in Riyadh, while Lagoona Beach in Jeddah will play host to the kiteboarding events.
Some of the Kingdom’s best women volleyball players will be on show at this year’s Games, which sees eight teams competing in two groups of four.
Al-Nassr take on Al-Hilal in the opener at 9 a.m., followed by Manjam Al-Mawaheb against Al-Riyadh, Al-Ittihad versus Al-Zulfi and Al-Anqaa against Al-Ahly.
The men’s competition features three groups of four, with the opening match being between Al-Ahly and Damaq. That starts at 3 p.m. on Thursday and will be followed by Al-Hidaya against Al-Wahda, Al-Hilal versus Abha and Al-Ittihad against Al-Khaleej.
The other teams taking part in the men’s volleyball are Al-Ibtisam, Al-Nasr, Al-Faisaly and Al-Safa.
The kiteboarding competition runs for three days and will see 16 competitors across the men’s and women’s events.