Arwa Mutabagani became the first Saudi woman to earn a membership in the Saudi Equestrian Federation (SEF) which was reformed on Sunday. Arwa got this unique distinction when Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, Chairman of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) announced the historic formation of Saudi sports federations - both elected and appointed. Prince Sultan said that GPYW has done its study before selecting women as members of sports federations in the Kingdom in a strategic way. “Saudi women can perfectly represent the Kingdom and after several studies we decided to engage women too for better achievements in sport fields,” Prince Sultan said in a press conference in Riyadh on Sunday. Arwa Mutabagani, 41, is one of the few Saudi women who practice horse riding in the Kingdom as she has her own stable in east of Jeddah. She also has taken part in several worldwide equestrian competitions and she was competing in Italy when GPYW named her as federation member. Arwa will be under the board of equestrian federation which is chaired by Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal, Vice Chairman of the GPYW, and Chairman of the Saudi Equestrian Federation. In the new setup, Prince Sultan Bin Fahd remains as Chairman of the Saudi Football Federation (SAFF) and President of the Saudi Sports Federation for Special Needs. The following are the heads of other federations: Prince Nawaf Bin Mohammed – athletics; Prince Talal Bin Badr – basketball; Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd Bin Abdullah – swimming; Suliman Al-Ahmed – handball. Mohammed Mufti – volleyball; Mishal Al-Sudairi – motorcycle and motor sports; Saeed Al-Qahatni – archery; Mohammed Al-Hussain – table tennis; Abdul Rahman Saad – tennis; Yasser Hamza – bicycles; Bandr Al-Saleh – fencing; Ali Al-Jefri – gymnastics; Ibrahim Al-Qanas – karate; Ahmed Bin Saad – taekwondo; Badr Al-Otaibi – boxing and wrestling; Saleh Al-Swat – weightlifting; Tariq Al-Tamimi – squash; Ibrahim Al-Jurifiani –bowling; Federation. Hassan Abu Aish – billiards; Khaled Abu Nian – golf; Hashim Hariri - physical education; Mohammed Qanbaz – medicine; Saeed Al-Qahatni – deaf and Awad Al-Bilawi – sea sports. Marzouqi resgins After sacking its soccer coach Nebojsa Vukovic of Serbia Al-Ahli President Ahmed Al-Marzouqi announced his own resignation from the post of president. Vukovic was fired on Sunday, just two days before the third round of the AFC Champions League that kicks off next Wednesday. The decision came one day after the Jeddah-based club went down to the newly promoted Al-Najran 2-0 in the Saudi League. Saudi coach Yousif Anbr, who worked as assistant coach, will take over in the remaining matches in the local and regional league. Al-Marzuuqi said that the poor performance of Al-Ahli in the local competitions and AFC Champions League was the reason behind the dismissal of the Serbian coach. “I would like to thank Vukovic for his efforts but the recent results forced us to take a decision,” Al-Marzouqi said. He added that his players also were not in their usual form and Vukovic cannot be blamed for that. Al-Ahli is now in the seventh spot in the Saudi league with 21 points. The team stays third in Group C of the AFC Champions League after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Qatar's Al-Sadd and a 1-1 home draw with Al-Karama of Syria. __
