RIYADH — Japanese Ambassador to Riyadh Norihiro Okuda welcomed representatives of the General Authority for Sports and Saudi Sports Federation to his residence for a reception to celebrate bilateral cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Japan in field of sports under the Joint Saudi-Japanese Group for Vision 2030. From the Saudi side, Deputy President of General Authority for Sports Mansour Al-Mansour, Prince Khalid Bin Bandar, executive director of international relations, and President of Saudi Arabian Karate Federation Ibrahim Bin Mohammed Al-Gannas attended the reception. It also marked the visit of four Japanese Karate masters to Saudi Arabia for training top coaches and selected players. The trip was organized by Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Saudi Karate Federation. They started the training on Jan. 10 and are giving lectures and coaching in Riyadh and Jeddah. This project is in line with a memorandum of cooperation signed between Saudi Arabia and Japan last May during the visit of Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to Tokyo. Ambassador Okuda said the first meeting of the Joint Group for Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 in Riyadh last October discussed joint activities planned by the subcommittee on culture and sports as well as training courses and demonstrations by Japanese martial arts experts. "Japan is determined to fully cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all sports fields and we believe that sports have the power to build a strong and healthy society," he said. As Japan will hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, they expect accomplishments of Saudi Karate players will be symbolic of the hearty cooperation between the two countries, he added. — SG
