• The 33, including the 22-man football squad, will compete in nine different sports, also a Saudi record

Ali Khaled

Saudi Arabia is heading to Tokyo 2020 with its largest ever Olympic Games delegation of athletes following 11 previous participations that began in 1976 in Montreal.

A total of 33 athletes, 31 male and two female, will represent the Kingdom in the Games, which start on July 23 and run until Aug. 8.

Of these, 22 make up the under-23 football squad, with the other 11 competitors taking part in nine other sports.

The number of sports the Kingdom will compete in also beats the previous high by a Saudi delegation, which was six at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

On Monday, judoka Tahani Al-Qahtani became the latest Saudi athlete to confirm her place in Tokyo, joining Sulaiman Hamad in the judo competition; Siraj Al-Saleem and Mahmoud Al-Ahmeed in weightlifting; Husein Alireza in rowing; Tarek Hamdi in karate; Youssef Bouarish in swimming; Ali Al-Khadrawi in table tennis; Saeed Al-Mutairi in shooting; and runners Yasmine Al-Dabbagh and Mazen Al-Yassin in athletics, as well as the 22 players who will represent the Saudi Olympic football team.