- World championship event took place in Norway
- Saudi Arabia was among 12 countries competing
The Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA) has congratulated the male and female athletes it had chosen to represent the Kingdom at this year’s iF3 Functional Fitness World Championships in Oslo, Norway, which took place from November 24-26.
Functional fitness is rooted in movements that support our everyday lives. Athletes are tested in a variety of exercises, activities, and energy systems, based on walking, pushing, pulling, bending, squatting, lunging, and core. The International Functional Fitness Federation (iF3) is the non-profit organization that serves as the governing body for competitive functional fitness globally, with the SFA becoming its official representative in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, allowing it to register athletes for iF3 international events.
The iF3 Functional Fitness World Championships is the biggest competition on the iF3 calendar, and sees 12 countries gather their best athletes to take part. The SFA conducted an online search to find Saudi Arabia’s top four athletes aged 18-45, awarding places to three males and one female. Each athlete had to work through a series of qualifying rounds, submitting videos of themselves performing set workouts, adhering to the rules set by the SFA judges.
The SFA put its search online to encourage as many people as possible to take part, supporting its belief that fitness is for everyone, and familiarizing the population with functional fitness in particular. Once selected, the team travelled to Norway to represent their country.
The SFA was able to demonstrate its enthusiasm for functional fitness to the iF3 before being appointed its Saudi Arabia representative. In May, as part of the first SFA Expo in Riyadh, bringing together established global and regional brands and services from the sports, wellness, and fitness industries, a local edition of the Turf Games was held, where teams of three competed in a functional fitness competition.
Since its inception in 2018, the SFA is the main body responsible for developing community sports, and is mandated with achieving a target of raising physical activity levels in the Kingdom, supporting the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative.
The SFA operates as the public face of a number of different sports and events in Saudi Arabia. In addition to its targeted campaigns and promotions, it organizes the annual Riyadh Marathon, attracting 15,000 participants.
