Watch: Saudi Arabia holds camel fighting competition
Contestants try to overpower the animal but without bloodletting
Cairo: Organisers of an annual camel festival in Saudi Arabia lent a sensational touch to the event this year.
They introduced a bullfight-like contest involving camels.
On Saturday, four members of the audience were picked to feature in the brand-new contest as part of the festival held outside the capital Riyadh.
Videos released online showed the contestants chasing young camels inside an iron closure in a desert area.
Each competitor was able to bring down the animal. The prize? Owning the camel itself.
Unlike the bullfight matches, there was no violence or bloodletting in the Saudi replica.
camels are a popular animal closely linked to heritage in the Arabian Peninsula country.
The animal has long been dubbed as the “ship of the desert”, being the lifeline for desert dwellers.
There are more than one million camels in Saudi Arabia where they are the centrepieces of different events, including races.
In 2017, the kingdom set up the Camel Club, an association of camel owners.