Category: Sports

The concept consists of a plan in the shape of infinity, around the existing Jaber Stadium and a new man-made lake on which will float three Olympic sized stadia. Contained within the main superstructure are another Olympic stadium, a five star hotel and a shopping centre. The tower, working within the long tradition of Kuwaiti tower-based architectural icons, contains a seven star hotel as well as luxury apartments, VIP suites for the stadium, and a Michelin star restaurant with extraordinary views. [Source]

I’m guessing the project was never approved since the last I heard of this was back in 2011. [Vimeo]

That’s actually not a bad idea, 360 Dewan has more details [Here]

A few days ago Jordan defeated Kuwait 21-0 in the Women’s Asian Cup qualifying. This comes after Kuwait lost to Uzbekistan 18-0 in the first qualifying round. You can watch all 21 goals in the “4 minute long” highlight reel above. [YouTube]

I already posted about wakeboarding late last year but since summer is here I figured I would repost about this for everyone that missed it.

The first time I went wakeboarding I wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult. For some reason I had the impression it would be fairly easy to stand on the board while pulled by a boat and performing all kind of stunts. Turns out it wasn’t easy and I spent the first 20 minutes just trying to get up out of the water and stay up before losing control and crashing into the water. It wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t for the fact every time I crashed I ended up swallowing so much water. After awhile you get the hang of getting up and standing on the board and then it becomes about how long can you stay up without losing balance. Once you get comfortable you start trying to change directions going left or right and the more comfortable you get the more things you end up trying to do. In my case by the second time I went wakeboarding I had pretty much gotten the hang of it.

While with jet skis you can just go out and rent one from a number of places on the Gulf Road, with wakeboarding it’s not that easy. Last year when I wanted to try wakeboarding I did a bit of research and found out about Q8 Balance who for a fixed hourly rate will take you or teach you wakeboarding out in Khiran City. Since then I’ve been only going out with them since I like them and haven’t really checked to see if there is any another group that provide a similar service. Q8 Balance charge KD35 for an hour so if you split it with a friend or two it becomes a fairly affordable and fun activity to do. Only issue I found with them is that they are pretty popular so you need to book a time slot way ahead of time.

So if you’re interested in wakeboarding here is the link to the Q8 Balance [Facebook Page]

If you know of another group that also offers wakeboarding please post it in the comments below with the details.

The weather this past week has been fantastic, it was sunny and the skies were a deep blue with very little wind. It’s really the best time for outdoor activities including jet skiing.

If you’ve never jet skied before it’s really very easy and not complicated at all. Jet ski has just two buttons and one leaver. The buttons are for starting and shutting down the engine while the lever is for accelerating. To slow down the jet ski you just let go of the lever. You don’t need to know how to balance a jet ski or anything of the sort, you just sit on it and pull the leaver and that’s pretty much it.

There are various locations on the Gulf Road where you can rent jet skis from and they all basically follow the same guidelines. You need to keep your Civil ID with them while the jet ski is out with you and you also have to sign a waiver/contract. Some locations offer lockers to put your stuff in others don’t. I would recommend you keep everything in the car anyway and then either leave your keys with them so they don’t get wet or get a small waterproof pouch to take with you. Some jet ski renters also give you a cheap Casio watch to wear so you know how much time you’ve been out for and when you need to be back by. Most also have a tap/shower to rinse off once you’re done.

The cost of renting a jet ski is KD10 for 30 minutes or KD15 for 1 hour. If you’re interested in renting one below are some Google Map links to various locations along the Gulf Road. If you’re planning to take pictures make sure your phone has a water poof case.

Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4

BBC have a short film on Fawaz Al Hasawi, kinda like a behind the scenes look on who he is and why he chose to purchase the football club Nottingham Forest. Although Fawaz says the club isn’t a plaything and is a serious business, I think the way the film was edited by the BBC and the way they kept focusing on his riches made it look like it’s just another toy like his cars and houses. You can watch the video on the BBC website [Here]

Back in January a challenge race took place in Kuwait and the video of the event just finally got uploaded. I was planning to take part but ended up traveling, glad I didn’t though since the event looked grueling and I don’t think I would have made it anywhere near the finish line. [YouTube]

Sorry for the late notice but I just found out about this. Tomorrow (Friday March 29) at 3PM Extreme Sports is going to be holding a BMX and skateboard competition at Marina Skatepark. If you don’t know where that is, it’s just outside of Marina Waves at the edge of the beach and park. You can still register if you want to compete as well.

Chris Mcdougall uploaded a video onto YouTube which he shot himself when he BASE jumped from Hamra Tower this past weekend. This is what he had to say about it:

the raw hand cam and head cam from the first ever base jumps in Kuwait. the exit point was very bad and unstable so i kicked like a bitch and i got a big booga on the camera and on my face on opening. But the one handed landing made up for the other clumsy stuff. More to come in the Middle East….Game on 🙂 P.S. Thanks to Camco Global events for making it happen!

[YouTube]

via His&Hers

The video above of the impressive shot that took place during the recent ITTF Kuwait Open has been making its rounds around the internet today. What I find more impressive is how an important event like the ITTF Kuwait Open took place in Kuwait and very little knew about it. Based on the news stories on the ITTF website, it looks like it was an important event yet I don’t recall seeing any advertising for it. Not a lot of activities like this take place in Kuwait so I’m sure a lot of people would have been interested to watch it. [YouTube]

The Kuwaiti futsal team scored a pretty strange free kick goal against the Jordanian team during their game over the weekend. Check it out in the video above. [YouTube]

Thanks Allen

This past weekend I traveled to Dubai to take part in the Dubai Marathon that was held there early Friday morning. Me and my running partner took part in the 10KM run and it was so much fun. I hadn’t taken part in a marathon before and the furthest I had ever run previously was around 6 or 7KM so it was such a rush to actually finish the race. Not only that but I had set a personal target of completing the 10KM run in under an hour and I managed to do it in 00:57:31 and with just 3 hours of sleep that night.

There were close to 20,000 people competing in the marathon and it was really like nothing else I had done before. The run started near Dubai Mall and when we got there around 6:30AM it was super packed everywhere with loud music playing. Even though it was pretty cold and foggy I don’t think anyone cared.

If you’ve never taken part in a marathon before you need to add it to your bucket list. The experience of running with thousands of people is like nothing else. Here is the link to the Dubai Marathon website [Link]

[YouTube]

I needed a bike carrier for my FJ and after looking at the locally available options I decided to order the Thule 970XT off Amazon. I didn’t want one of those flimsy bike carriers you strap onto the back of the car but instead wanted one that would fit into my FJ’s trailer hitch. I also didn’t want one that I’d have to bolt on and off since I knew it would be a hassle and I’d either end up leaving the carrier always on or not using it at all. After a bit of research I found the Thule 970XT.

There are a number of cool features in this Thule bike carrier. First because it’s mostly made of aluminum it’s pretty light weight and I can easily carry it with one hand. The second really cool feature is the fact you can fasten it and unfasten it to your car in under a minute and I’m not exaggerating here. Instead of using bolts to secure the bike carrier to the trailer hitch, the Thule 970XT uses an ingenious knob which you can tighten and loosen up to fasten into the hitch. This means I can leave the bike carrier in my trunk and hook it to my hitch only when I need to and very easily. It’s a really practical bike carrier to use and I don’t think there is any other one that can be hooked up to a car quicker than this.

There are other small cool features as well for example the knob that fastens the hitch to the trailer has a lock to prevent the carrier from being stolen. The bike carrier can also tilt down forward so you can open the trunk without removing the hitch and finally the bike carrier also comes with a locking cable so you can secure your bikes onto the carrier and not worry about anyone stealing them (easily).

I ordered the bike carrier from Amazon for around KD90 and had it shipped to my friends APO mailbox but, I just checked and Mr Babu are selling it for KD140 which is probably as much or less then what you would pay if you shipped it via Aramex. Here are some links:

Thule 970XT on Amazon
Thule 970XT on Mr Babu

The Gulf Cup starts on Saturday and local iPhone App developer Mobibus have released an App for the tournament.

Gulf Cup 21 mobile application allows you to stay up to date with the Gulf Cup Tournaments , News and Standings.You can check scores for live matches, latest results and upcoming matches. Also you can check all the Teams information (Squad , Ranking, Coach, … etc)

The App is free and if you’re interested you can download it from the Apple Store by searching for Gulf Cup 21 or by clicking [Here]

Thanks Musaed