Women compete for the top spot in bowling in Alkhobar

After the success of the first round of the Women’s Bowling Championship in Riyadh, the second round came to Alkhobar on Oct. 13. Around 40 female competitors took part in the Al-Gosaibi Bowling Center. Participants ranging in age from 13 to 50 years old and from different backgrounds were there to express their love for bowling.

The game consisted of four rounds. In the first round all 40 competitors took part. Of these, 24 competitors made it into the second round and half their number qualified for the third. The last round had three competitors competing for first place: Ghada Nemer, Heidee Asiman and Meshael Abduljwad. 

Ghada Nemer, the winner in the Women’s Bowling Championship, shares her love for bowling with her two sons, who have joined their mother bowl ever since they were children and made it onto the national bowling team. “I used to take my two sons to watch me bowl when they were young children to encourage them.” Ghada continued: “I almost couldn’t believe the first time I found out about the Bowling Championship and that women can finally participate in such tournaments! I registered immediately, my love for bowling is indescribable.”

Dr. Razan Baker, a member of board of directors at the Saudi Bowling Federation, said: “We never knew how much people loved bowling until we started the first championship in Riyadh last week. We had 200 applications in Riyadh and around 100 in Alkhobar. 

“We have females coming from different fields, some of whom play football, some fence and some are just into sports and want to try it; we had people join to enjoy the sport and others who plan to be professionals.”

About the federation’s future plans Dr. Razan stated: “We get a lot of requests from different teams who started asking to be sponsored by the federation. We are willing help establish the teams that show us better scores and better determination, and put them in for more competitions around the Kingdom in the coming year.” 

Shmool Alharbi, a member of the Saudi women’s bowling team that was created in March and is now being sponsored by the federation, hoped that women will get more involved in sports.

“I am happy to be part of this event to let other females here in Alkhobar, and in the Kingdom in general, know about this sport. I hope that the awareness of sports can be spread among all women through such events,” she said.

Dr. Sahar Algosaibi, the head of the property department in Algosaibi, shared her story of collaboration with the Saudi Bowling Federation to empower women in sports as part of corporate social responsibility: “We work and aim to spread the word about sports between women, provide logistic support through well-prepared facilities and expand the field of sports for women in different sports, not only bowling.”