Category: Sports

Washington Post have an article on muslim female athletes and Kuwaiti athletes are featured prominently in it. It’s an interesting article that highlights the struggle muslim female athletes go through in the Arab world but it also kind of shows how liberal Kuwait is (or can be). Kuwaiti athletes won’t be able to participate at the Rio Olympics this year under the Kuwaiti flag due to the ban imposed on Kuwait by the IOC, but I believe there will be a number of Kuwaiti female athletes competing (Faye Sultan is confirmed), I’m just still waiting to get the final list so I can share it. Here is the link to the Washington Post [Article]

I’ve been curious for the past couple of years to why Kuwait is so popular with international bodybuilders. I mean I’ve heard of a number of current and previous bodybuilding champions who are currently coaching at some of the gyms in Kuwait and I never understood why. Carter, a British bodybuilder has an interesting theory to why that is the case and I think he makes a good point.

Carter suggests that there are certain PED’s (performance-enhancing drugs) only available locally that are attracting all the big name athletes. It’s an interesting theory and one I could believe being possible along with the fact that we have some great bodybuilding gyms here and the coaches probably get a good salary as well. Check out the video above. [YouTube]

Note: Trying to be Fahad posted about HGH (human growth hormone) a few years ago and he mentioned it being dirt cheap and that you could the absolute best brand for next to nothing [Link]

As of this post seven Kuwaiti athletes have qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympics, six shooters and one fencer:

Abdulaziz Al-Shatti (Fencing)
Abdulrahman Al-Faihan (Trap)
Khaled Al-Mudhaf (Trap) – 2002 World Champion
Saud Habib (Skeet)
Abdullah Al-Rashidi (Skeet)
Ahmad Al-Afasi (Double Trap)
Fehaid Al-Deehani (Double Trap) – Won Olympic bronze medals at both Sydney 2000 and London 2012

Sadly Kuwait is currently banned from participating in the Olympics. But the Kuwait athletes will still be eligible to compete as Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA) but they can not represent Kuwait.

Kuwait officials, though, had previously warned they would not allow its athletes to compete at Rio 2016 under the flag of anyone else but their own.

If they competed as IOA, there would be no reference to their nationality on their accreditation or results, with the IOC to appoint a “responsible organiser and technical officials” to oversee the team.

They would march under the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony, with the Olympic Anthem to be played should one of the team win a gold medal.

Kuwait was banned from the IOC last October for “undue Government interference”, only three years after the lifting of a similar suspension shortly before London 2012. [Source]

Pictured above is Kuwaiti bronze medallist Fehaid Al-Deehani during the medal ceremony for the Men’s Trap Shooting Final at the London 2012 Olympics.

via @thefrugalfan

I’m a huge UFC fan so I was excited to find out that Claudio Silva, the head coach at the local training facility Combat Athletics will be fighting on the UFC 201 card this coming July. Claudio is currently on an 11 fight win streak with the last two wins taking place in the UFC. Due to a bit of bad luck last year (he broke both his feet), he had to take a break from fighting so that he could recover. Now that he’s healed up he’s heading back to the UFC and will be facing off against the tough Siyar Bahadurzada.

Claudio is currently in London until the end of the month before he heads to Miami for his 8 week fight camp with American Top Team. ATT is one of the top MMA camps that currently trains a bunch of popular fighters like current UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler as well as UFC fighters Hector Lombard, Junior Dos Santos and Glover Teixeira amongst a ton of others.

Now the cool part about all of this is that Claudio will be carrying the Kuwaiti flag with him at the weigh-ins and during his walkout to the cage on fight night. If he wins I’m assuming he’ll also have it on him during the winners announcement. Should be a great fight and I’m looking forward to seeing Claudio walkout with the Kuwaiti flag while Joe Rogan tries to guess which country it’s from. UFC 201 will be held on July 30th and I’ll be posting a reminder a day or two before. If you’d like to support Claudio you can do so by following him on instagram where he’ll be sharing pictures and videos from his fight camp @claudiohannibalsilva

Last week I was going through my instagram explore page and found a video of a new indoor skate park, turns out it was part of “Trampo Extreme”, the new Trampo location in Murouj. So I got in touch with them and headed over to check the place out.

The new Trampo location is HUGE with a lot of different activities to try out. First you have the trampolines area which takes up around 1/3 of the whole space. There are different kinds of trampolines to choose from including a dodge ball trampoline court for competitive action against friends. Right next to the trampoline section you have a leap of faith tower and a vertical slide, both of which are meant to test your courage.

Now the other areas of the new Trampo location is where I think things get interesting. First you have a large area on your right once you walk in filled with really tall climbing walls. This is my favorite area in the whole arena since it’s one I’ll probably go back to try.

Right in the middle of the arena but raised above ground is a cable climbing area. It’s a obstacle course in the air which you traverse and once you get to the end of it there is a zip line that takes you to the other side.

The last activity at the new Trampo location is one I think a lot of teenagers are going to love, a skate park. The skate park is divided into three main areas with the first one aimed towards intermediate skaters. This area is composed of a large shallow pool on one side and low rails and ledges on the other with small quarter pipes.

The second area behind the intermediate one is the main skating area and consists of two large quarter pipes connected to each other with volcanos in the middle. This area is a lot more difficult but to help make things a bit easier, there is a third area where you could go to and practice your tricks.

The training area consists of a slope down to a quarter pipe which has a foam pit behind it. This way skaters and riders can practice their tricks without having to worry about getting hurt. And yes, BMX riders can use these facilities alongside skaters and if you don’t have a skateboard or bike, they have them available for you to use.

I got the price list from Tampo and it’s as follows:

Jump: KD6.5/hour
Climb: KD6/hour
Skate’n’Ride Junior: KD7/hour
Skate’n’Ride Pro: KD5.5/hour
Leap: KD1
Slide: KD1
Zipline: KD4

Trampo Extreme just opened this past weekend and their hours are Monday to Thursday 2PM to 10PM, Friday 10AM to 10PM, Saturday 10AM to 8PM and Sundays they are closed. The skate area doesn’t require any bookings but the climbing and trampoline areas do. To book your spot you can do so online from their website [Here]

Back in 1993 when the first ever UFC fight was held (UFC 1), the main idea was that they wanted to match up the different martial arts against each other to see which one of the combat practices would dominate. So they got 8 different fighters from different fighting backgrounds, like one was a sumo wrestler, another was a kick boxer, another a jujitsu master etc.. and made them fight each other in a tournament. In the end Royce Gracie the jujitsu master won the tournament but all the fighters became pretty much recognized because of the fact they took part in what became the first mixed martial arts event.

One of the fighters that probably stood out the most though was Art Jimmerson, a boxer who went into the fight wearing just one boxing glove. The image on top became pretty memorable so it was a pretty cool surprise to find out that Art is in Kuwait coaching at a new boxing gym. How random is that? The new gym is called The Hook and I just called them up and they told me they’re opening up tomorrow (Monday, May 9th). You can check out their instagram account @thehook.kw or check out Art Jimmerson’s account @artjimmerson

Combat Athletics is a new training facility in Kuwait that specializes in MMA, No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Boxing. I passed by them awhile ago since they’re located near my place in Salmiya and I left fairly impressed. They’ve got two trainers at the moment with two more on the way. The first is Claudio “Hannibal” Silva, an MMA fighter with an 11-1 record with his last two wins coming in the UFC. The second trainer is Ajarn Khunsuek, the 2006 European Muay Thai champion with a ridiculous 300+ fights on his record but the coolest part about him though for me was the fact he had a cameo appearance as an extra in the 1989 movie ‘Kickboxer’ starring Jean Claude Van Damme. Both the trainers are pretty legit and Combat Athletics is banking on them to help turn the place into a proper training facility. Other than getting great trainers they’ve also heavily invested in their facility. The ring pictured above is the only official 5 rope ring in Kuwait while all their Muay Thai and boxing equipment are by Throwdown, their grappling mats by Zebra while and their strength and conditioning equipment by Life Fitness. Basically they’ve spared no expense.

Combat Athletics have been open for awhile now holding private PT sessions, but starting this coming Sunday they’ll be soft launching to the public. The gym is mixed so for all the women who’ve been asking me where they could to do proper Muay Thai training this is the place. I took a peek at their prices which haven’t been finalized yet and they’ve got an interesting system setup. You’ll have the option to sign up just to use their facilities, or the option to come just to their classes or the option for both. So for example because I’ve already got a gym membership somewhere else, I can just sign up for Muay Thai classes with them. They promised to send me the final price list once they’re ready but for now you can check out their instagram at @combatathletics

Here is their location on [Google Maps]

This post is for the MMA fans here. A few years ago I posted a clip from Warriors War, a middleweight MMA tournament that took place in Kuwait back in 2001 and involved the likes of Matt Hughes, Bruce Buffer and Big John McCarthy. I was pretty surprised back then that I hadn’t heard of this tournament before but Ray Elbe sent me a link to an article a few days back that discusses the event in full details. Turns out it was a complete mess from an organizing stand point which should be no surprise but there was also a scheme to rig some of the fights. If you’re an MMA fan you’re going to find this enjoyable to read, check out the article [Here]

If you’re looking for a place to play tennis or squash for cheap and without requiring any membership, then the best place I know of is Salmiya Club.

Tennis
Salmiya Club has 5 tennis courts, 4 outdoor and 1 in door. The cost is KD10 per hour (so 5 per person) but they also have monthly membership as well. If you’re not a member then you can come use the courts between 9AM to 1PM and 8PM to 10PM. When you get there you just walk onto the court and start playing, someone will then come collect money from you.

Squash
Salmiya Club also has 6 indoor squash courts as well. Like with tennis you don’t need to be a member to use them. The cost is KD4 (KD2 per person) for 30 minutes but they also have monthly membership. Like with tennis if you’re not a member then you’ve got a limited time slot to play which is 9AM to 1PM and 7PM to 9PM. Make sure you wear sneakers with white soles or they won’t let you use the courts, they’re very anal about this.

If you don’t know where Samiya Club is, here it is on [Google Maps]

The Kuwait Champions Challenge is in a few days and already three players have been stopped from playing in Kuwait due to the fact Kuwait was suspended by FIFA in October because of government interference. The three players banned are Steven Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo and Xavi Hernandez. [Source]

I just tried accessing the Kuwait Champions Challenge website to see if they’ve updated the players list but the site seems down at the moment.

Update: Here is a good article for CNN on this muck up by a good friend of mine Motez Bishara [Link]

If you’ve already booked a ticket to the Kuwait Champions Challenge then you already know that you don’t get to choose where to sit instead you’re just told if you’re upper level (single men) or lower level (families). You also would have noticed that as a single guy you can only book 1 ticket.

If you’re concerned you won’t be seated with your friends don’t worry about it. According to the organizers, if you arrive to the stadium with your friends then they will seat you all together depending on availability. So try to get there early if you all want to sit together.

If you haven’t booked a ticket yet you will be able to do so today between 4PM to 8PM from [Here]

The Kuwait Mooseheads Ice Hockey Team are looking for new members. If you can ice skate and play hockey then this is for you:

Looking for something fun, active and social? Miss those days at the rink? Well you’re in luck, the Kuwait Mooseheads hockey club is looking for new members to join us for our weekly scrimmages. We play twice a week at the ice rink next to Discovery Mall. The club also takes part in international tournaments throughout the year. Full equipment is required, and some experience is necessary. Check us out on Facebook or contact Graham via email at [email protected]

A fight took place earlier this evening during a football game between Al-Jahra and Khaitan. During the match, the manager of the Al-Jahra team attacked the referee due to a disagreement over one of the calls resulting in the chaos you see in the video. Kuwait is already suspended by FIFA so this altercation is definitely not helping. [YouTube]

Thanks Sala6a

Tickets for the 2015 Kuwait Champions Challenge are now available online. The tickets are free but you don’t get to choose where you will sit other than if you’re going to be in the singles section or family section. Once you finish the booking process you’ll be able to print out or email your tickets.

The final list of players on the international team was released and it includes:

Mohamed Aboutrika
Jamie Carragher
Andrea Pirlo
Jens Lehmann
Paul Scholes
Ronaldinho
Robert Pirès
Carles Puyol
Míchel Salgado
Alessandro Del Piero
Gianluca Zambrotta
Luís Figo
Alessandro Nesta
Andriy Shevchenko
Deco
David James
Steven Gerrard

If you’re interested in attending the game you should book your ticket ASAP before they run out from the official website [Here]

Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium will be officially opening on December 18th by holding the Kuwait Champions Challenge, which according to their website is the largest entertainment and sports event of its kind to ever take place in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti All-Star Team will be playing a friendly match against the Football Champions Tour which will be a team made up on international football stars.

They haven’t listed the international players that will be coming but right now voting is open on choosing which players you want to be on the Kuwaiti All-Star Team. Tickets to this event will also be available next week. For more information check out the official Kuwait Champions Challenge website [Here]

I guess whatever issues the stadium had they’re all fixed now.

via sala6a

Update: The international players are being announced, so far the following players will be coming

Keep checking the official website for more details [Here]