Sarah Al-Akour: The first Saudi woman commentator at camel races
Sarah Al-Akour was chosen as the first Saudi woman commentator for camel races, after she entered the Saudi Golden Equestrian commentator competition for men and women, which was launched by the Saudi Camel Federation.
Al-Akour passed the tests through a 5-minute video commentary, and her name was announced among 27 qualified participants out of 300.
She has prior experience commenting on equestrian races, and was always keen on preparing and collecting all the information she would need for upcoming races. In her opinion, this is the most important characteristic of a successful commentator.
Despite the difficulty of knowing all the names of the participants, owners, logos and camels, she said, “Names are easy for me to pronounce because I am a daughter of this authentic heritage, and I have the know-how and awareness of how to pronounce names while commentating, a job that gives great pleasure.”
Al-Akour is keen on becoming a competent commentator and uses the appropriate vocal tone at the start and finish lines. She has passion and objectivity, and she makes sure each and every participant gets their share of attention, in order for the audience and horse owners to enjoy.
She also seeks to develop her own performance style away from traditional commentating. She elaborates, “I was not influenced by camel racing commentators, I just observe, but without absorbing their style because each commentator has his own identity, culture and style, which should be like a thumbprint for every person and not a duplicate of other commentators.”
She added: “The passionate commentators always have their own style, their mark and their different personal charisma, and this imprint was formed through sufficient information about camels and their owners, and keeping up-to-date on the sport since its inception until today.”
She has prior experience commenting on equestrian races, and was always keen on preparing and collecting all the information she would need for upcoming races. In her opinion, this is the most important characteristic of a successful commentator.
Despite the difficulty of knowing all the names of the participants, owners, logos and camels, she said, “Names are easy for me to pronounce because I am a daughter of this authentic heritage, and I have the know-how and awareness of how to pronounce names while commentating, a job that gives great pleasure.”
Al-Akour is keen on becoming a competent commentator and uses the appropriate vocal tone at the start and finish lines. She has passion and objectivity, and she makes sure each and every participant gets their share of attention, in order for the audience and horse owners to enjoy.
She also seeks to develop her own performance style away from traditional commentating. She elaborates, “I was not influenced by camel racing commentators, I just observe, but without absorbing their style because each commentator has his own identity, culture and style, which should be like a thumbprint for every person and not a duplicate of other commentators.”
She added: “The passionate commentators always have their own style, their mark and their different personal charisma, and this imprint was formed through sufficient information about camels and their owners, and keeping up-to-date on the sport since its inception until today.”
