MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. The technical management authorities of Saudi Arabia’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) are set to choose between two athletes, who will represent the country for the first time ever at the Winter Olympic Games, the NOC’s press office announced on Monday.
China’s Xinhua news agency announced earlier in the day that Saudi Arabian alpine skiers Salman Al Howaish and Fayik Abdi had qualified to compete in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
According to the press service of the Saudi Arabia’s NOC, the technical management of the Committee would have to make a choice between the two athletes because they both had qualified for the Olympics in one sports competition.
Saudi Arabia has made ten appearances in the Summer Olympic Games beginning with the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, but the country’s athletes have never participated in the Winter Olympic Games.
Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held from February 4-20, while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held on March 4-13.
During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022).
Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Olympics and Paralympics in a tight race, beating Kazakhstan’s Almaty in 2015, by chalking up 44 votes against its rival’s 40.