Monika Staab hails Saudi tournament as ‘hugely important’ for women's game in Kingdom

RIYADH: The head coach of Saudi Arabia's women's team Monika Staab said on Tuesday an upcoming tournament in the Kingdom was hugely important for developing the female game in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia's women are participating in a tournament with Pakistan, Mauritius and Comoros.

The tournament starts on Wednesday (Jan. 11) and each team will play with other once in the round-robin format.

“We had an eight day preparation camp to get the best results out of this tournament, and the Saudi Women's Football League has added a lot for us and to the players who kept in good shape,” Staab said about her Saudi team.

Collet Marie, head coach of the Mauritius team, said: “Our national team is ready for this tournament, participating in such matches benefits the team a lot, we are back after two years of not playing a game, so we will try our best to achieve positive results in this tournament.”

Pakistan coach Adel Mizra thanked the Kingdom for its hospitality and for hosting a women's tournament of a decent standing.

“Thank you to Saudi Arabia for the good hospitality,” she said. “We had participated in the South Asian Championship, but haven't played a match for eight years in any international tournament, so we have many youth players in this tournament and this is a good thing.”

Choudjay Mahandhi, the head coach of the Comoros national team, said: “The Saudi federation was very welcoming and we would like to thank them for this tournament, we have a good team and our only goal is to win the tournament and bring back the cup to our country.”