RIYADH – Saudi Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud won ArabSports Personality Award, on Wednesday, at the 9th Mohammed Bin Rashid AlMaktoum Creative Sports Award ceremony held in Dubai.
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award is the biggest awardof its kind in the world and one of the entities under the Mohammed BinRashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
Princess Reema said that she wants to see more women take up top positionsin Saudi Arabian sports federation and inspire the generations to follow.
The Saudi princess was the first female to lead a Saudi sports federationwhen she took over as president of the Federation for Community Sports inOctober, Princess Reema is also Deputy President of Saudi Arabia’s SportsAuthority for Planning & Development.
Her pioneering role in the founding and regulation of women’s sports inSaudi Arabia backed up the introduction of sports among girls in publicschools.
Princess Reema won the prestigious Arab Sports Personality award at the 9thMohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, which comes under theumbrella of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
Thanking His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the VicePresident and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for his “pioneeringapproach to sports and athletes, not just local but the wider Arab region”,which has seen the MBR Creative Sports Award become the “dream of everyArab athlete and official”, Princess Reema said asserting her hope to seemany more Saudi women follow her lead.
“I am hoping to see women in the top hierarchy of every sports federationin Saudi Arabia, for they will then become role models for the women whofollow,” said Princess Reema as she spelt out her dreams for sports inSaudi Arabia in the main session of the 9th Sports Creativity Forum onTuesday at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers’ Godolphin Ballroom.
“It is important that women take up these positions, learn on the job andthen pass on their knowledge to the next generation.”
Women’s sports, however, is not the principal focus of Princess Reema. Ashead of Community Sports, she is trying to reach out to a wider segment ofthe society and hoping to increase the pool of people playing sports.
“When I first came into sports administration, the goal was to developwomen’s sport and expand its base in Saudi Arabia,” she said. “But soon Idiscovered it is youth sport that needs greater attention. So we had tochange our strategy of focusing on women’s sport and turn our attentiontowards youth sport in the country.
“We had a meeting with all the federations and we decided that our goalwill be to increase the number of youths playing individual sports. We needa pool of at least 20,000 if we hope to find 100 good ones, and that is ourgoal.”