{"id":86797,"date":"2024-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/06\/03\/the-world-rally-championship-will-return-to-the-middle-east-after-a-14-year-hiatus\/"},"modified":"2024-06-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T00:00:00","slug":"the-world-rally-championship-will-return-to-the-middle-east-after-a-14-year-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/06\/03\/the-world-rally-championship-will-return-to-the-middle-east-after-a-14-year-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"The World Rally Championship will return to the Middle East after a 14-year hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a couple of big sports stories out this morning<\/strong>, including news that Saudi will host the FIA World Rally Championship, as well as the outcome of an important boxing match in Riyadh.<\/p>\n

MOTORSPORTS-<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia will host an edition of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for 10 years <\/strong>starting 2025<\/strong>, which will mark the first time the tournament comes to the Kingdom, according to a statement from WRC<\/a>. Next year\u2019s Saudi edition of WRC will also mark the championship\u2019s return to the Middle East after it was last held in Jordan in 2011, the statement notes. <\/p>\n

What we know: <\/strong>The long-term agreement was struck at the Rally Italia Sardegna and will see Saudi host a championship round in WRC\u2019s 12-rally calendar under the name \u201cSaudi Rally,\u201d reports state-run news agency SPA<\/a>. This agreement is still subject to the approval of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. No financial details were made public, and it\u2019s unclear whether the Saudi Rally will be an addition to the calendar or replace an existing one.<\/p>\n

Saudi is becoming<\/strong> a motorsports hub<\/strong>, with the Kingdom now boasting a calendar<\/a> that includes Formula 1, Formula E, Extreme E, the Dakar Rally, as well as the newly added WRC. <\/p>\n

What they said: <\/strong>\u201cIt has been over a decade since the FIA World Rally Championship last visited the region,\u201d said FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The championship will be a \u201cgreat [chance] for national and regional drivers to showcase their talents on the world stage,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS-<\/p>\n

Daniel Dubois secured the International Boxing Federation interim world heavyweight <\/strong>title<\/strong>, after he beat Croatia\u2019s Filip Hrgovic in a fight that could become a world championship title if Oleksandr Usyk \u2014 Ukraine's undisputed world champion \u2014 relinquishes his title or is stripped of it by the sanctioning body, reports ESPN<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The fight was part of the historic 5 vs 5 event held in Riyadh Season<\/strong>, which saw boxing\u2019s two biggest promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren face off their fighters yesterday. \u201cRiyadh now is the capital of world boxing,\u201d Warren told Arab News<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLUS: Dubois secures interim heavyweight title<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2524],"tags":[2001,10,2126,2127,2847,441,8],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-86797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-_newspack_sports","tag-boxing","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-fia-world-rally-championship-wrc","tag-motorsports","tag-rally","tag-riyadh-season","tag-sports","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"e92bd489-db1e-4c92-880e-e0832fb56fab","order":"9","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/6\/173.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"The World Rally Championship will return to the Middle East after a 14-year hiatus","related_issue":[86780],"teaser":"PLUS: Dubois secures interim heavyweight title","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2024\/6\/.34e4004e-f930-46aa-8c5e-37823f0f8d05.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nThe World Rally Championship will return to the Middle East after a 14-year hiatus - 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