JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sport, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, inaugurated the Kingdom’s first specialized elite combat sports center in Jeddah on Sunday.
The new facility, which spans 3,000 square meters, has been designed to support the development of combat sports athletes across judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, taekwondo and karate.
The center features five training areas and is equipped with a multidisciplinary team of specialists in physical conditioning, nutrition, performance analysis and sports psychology. It has the capacity to serve up to 250 male and female athletes per training session.
The launch forms part of Saudi Arabia’s broader efforts to strengthen its high-performance sports infrastructure and develop athletes capable of competing on the international stage.
Abdulaziz Ba’ashan, secretary-general and chief executive officer of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said the Jeddah facility represents the first phase of a wider network of elite training centers planned across the Kingdom.
He said a combat sports center in Riyadh is scheduled to open in July 2026, followed by an Elite Athlete Training Center in the capital later that year with a capacity of 10,000 athletes. Additional athletics centers are planned for Jazan and Bisha in 2027, including a 400-meter internationally certified track.
“Today, we are building the training environment that will forge tomorrow’s champions,” Ba’ashan said during the opening ceremony.
“This center may represent the Kingdom on podiums of victory at the 2034 Riyadh Masters,” he added.
