The role of physical culture and sport in the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The article examines the activities of the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in developing physical culture and sports to improve the health of its citizens, boost the national economy, and enhance the country's international standing. The relevance of the study is justified by the growing role of physical culture and sports and the strengthening of cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia. The aim of the conducted research is to study these activities and to develop recommendations for the Russian Federation on assessing future prospects related to Russian-Saudi relations and obtaining mutual benefits from their development. In conducting the research, the author relied on a systematic approach, which allowed for the examination of the Saudi Arabian leadership's activities in developing physical culture and sports as a deeply and organically structured set of measures aimed at solving the tasks set by the national leadership in the long-term development program "Vision 2030," adopted in 2016. It is important to note that the authors of this document clearly and objectively assessed the situation regarding the importance of sports, the state of its infrastructure, prospects for its development, resources involved, and the upcoming activities for a radical improvement of the situation. The systematic approach made it possible to demonstrate how decisions on the development of physical culture and sports made by the KSA leadership, and the activities of relevant government bodies and private companies in their implementation, contribute to achieving national health targets, enhancing the country's prestige, and have a beneficial impact on the economy of the KSA. The use of the systematic approach, coupled with comparative analysis and the interpretation of Arabic- and English-language texts on the research topic, reveals a rich array of options for the activities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's leadership to establish the state as one of the centers of world sports in the near historical perspective and as a country with a physically healthy and active population regularly engaged in both traditional and new types of physical culture and sports. The research framework includes the principle of a comprehensive study of objects, patterns, trends, processes, and phenomena. Relying on the principle of specificity allowed for the identification of the most important aspects of the problem under study. In combination with the principle of historicism, this made it possible to discern prospects and formulate recommendations. The use of methods such as analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, comparison, and modeling not only made it possible to identify cause-and-effect relationships between the measures taken and their results but also to compare stated goals with actually achieved outcomes. The theoretical significance of the study lies in introducing documents previously unknown to Russian researchers into Russian academic discourse, as well as in presenting the author's perspective on the role of physical culture and sports in well-known KSA documents. This will help fill an existing gap, as the role of physical culture and sports in the development of the Kingdom has not been widely analyzed by domestic specialists previously. The practical value of the work lies in developing specific recommendations for strengthening Russian-Saudi cooperation in this sphere. The conclusions of the study are based on the importance of the role of physical culture and sports in state development and their significance for the prestige of its governing institutions. Furthermore, the Kingdom's advanced experience is of interest for further scientific study and practical implementation in Russia.