Category: Sports

Kuwait’s obsession with padel reached meme-worthy levels, with courts popping up everywhere – even replacing car lots in the city despite there being a scarcity of parking. But, I noticed most of the courts are usually empty when I drive by them and just yesterday I saw one being taken down.

As someone who doesn’t care about padel, I get the impression the padel craze has died down and so a lot more courts will be closing down. I know one court closing doesn’t represent the padel scene as a whole, but I can’t imagine all these courts being profitable, there are just too many of them. Is padel finally dead?

The last camel races of the season are going to be held this coming Friday and Saturday. The races usually only take place on Saturday but this weekend there will also be races on Friday which should be good news to anyone that couldn’t watch them on Saturdays.

Friday, March 17
There will be 16 races taking place and they will start at 7:30AM

Saturday, March 18
There will only be 5 races taking place and they will start at 2:00PM

There is no entrance fee and you can either watch the races from the sidelines, drive up to the starting lines and watch the start of the race or just drive around the track in your car following the races.

If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.

If you’re bored of padel and are looking for a new sport, fencing might be an interesting and unique one to try out. Kuwaiti gold medalist Reem Alshatti coaches under the academy Haus of Fencing three times a week and at a relatively reasonable price of 15KD for a class or 100KD for 12 classes.

All the equipment and uniforms are provided.

If this sounds like something you want to do, then you need to sign up for their two-day beginner’s workshop. The workshops happen a couple of times every month and cost 30KD. They’re fully booked for February, but their waiting list for next month is now open.

Sign up on their website, hausoffencing.com or visit them on Instagram @hausoffencing

The Red Bull Half Court is a 3×3 basketball tournament that takes place in 29 different countries including Kuwait. This year the tournament will be taking place in Kuwait from February 3rd to the 11th and there are still spots for teams available to sign up.

If you and your friends want to compete, it’s free to register. The tournament winners will get an all-expense paid trip to Serbia later this year to compete in the world finals.

To register your team simply go to redbullhalfcourt.com and sign up.

I always imagined it would be crazy expensive to play golf at the Sahara Kuwait Golf Club but turns out that’s not the case. Earlier this week I got in touch with the golf coach there and after a bit of back and forth I managed to figure out the cheapest way to have fun at the golf club.

If like me you just want to go alone or with friends and hit balls at the driving range, then you can do that for just 13KD. The cost to use the driving range for a non-member is 10KD for 2 hours and that includes 150 balls. If you don’t have a golf club which I’m assuming you don’t then you can rent a 7-iron for 3KD. If you want more balls, its 3KD for an additional 150.

Another great option is booking a 30-minute lesson with a professional PGA coach. The lesson costs 35KD and once you’re done with it you then get 2 hours of practice at the driving range with 150 balls to hit. The golf club is included at this price.

I went yesterday to the driving range to try it out and it’s definitely a very fun thing to do. I went just before sunset and the place was very chill. The range can hold 11 people but there was just one person when I was there. 150 balls lasted me nearly an hour of basically non-stop swinging.

If you want to play at the driving range you can either go as a walk-in or book ahead by calling them up on 22203411 or 22203410. There is a basic dress code, for guys, it’s like no jeans or shorts, no flip flops, and wear a top with a collar. When you call them they’ll fill you in. When you get to the Sahara Club, head downstairs to the golf shop, that’s where you pay and go in from.

At 13KD, this could be one of the most affordable and fun outdoor activities in Kuwait.

Photo on top from @itsgee98

beIN Sports has announced that they will be streaming the final World Cup match tonight between Argentina and France for free. The game will be available to stream on their free-to-air channels beIN SPORTS MAX as well as their beIN SPORTS’ YouTube channel.

The game is obviously going to be streaming in various cafes and restaurants around Kuwait for free, but if you prefer watching it from the comfort of your couch, you can now do that as well.

This looks like it could be a fun experience. Chevrolet Alghanim are hosting a World Cup viewing experience tonight in the desert. They’re going to broadcast the Germany vs Spain game and there will also be different activities and a food zone.

If you’re interested, it’s going to take place from 6:30 PM to 12 AM at @palama.kw. To register, head to @chevroletalghanim and click on the profile link.

If you’re looking for a cool and free spot to watch the World Cup matches then you should probably head over to the Sheikh Jaber Causeway. Castra who were in the news last week because their desert lounge setup got shutdown for not having a license are back now (with a license) and have set up a World Cup viewing area on the Southern Island of the causeway (called Al Saji Island).

The Castra setup is right on the edge of the island with a beautiful view of Kuwait City and is surrounded by food trucks and plenty of seating. Although they were still working on setting up a kiosk area for pop-ups when I visited, they’ve been open and broadcasting the games daily.

There is no entrance fee which is great and because it’s located on the Southern Island of the causeway I think makes this location really fun and interesting to visit. Weirdly, there isn’t anything posted about this anywhere, not even on the Castra Instagram account which is @castra.kw

If you want to head to the location, here it is on Google Maps

Last week I posted a couple of ways you could watch the World Cup tournament including subscribing with TOD for $80. But, a reader left a pretty negative review of his experience with the service after trying to watch the first game yesterday:

Tod is the Worst app on the planet , missed most of the game , it keeps crashing . Its a waste of money, its a scam not worth 80 dollars subscription, you cant even contact them. I watched 10 min of the game then it stops , after resting the app it tells you you need to register the device. I registered my tv maybe 10 times. Dont recommend it at all. And even on your phone it takes a long time to work if it works.

Did you stream with TOD? How was your experience?

In other surprising news, the container park KWT FAN BOX did in fact open in time yesterday to broadcast the opening of the World Cup.

The World Cup 2022 starts in just a few days and the only way to watch it legally at home (from what I’m aware) is through beIN Sports. Fifa+ doesn’t support Kuwait and KTV hasn’t announced if they’ll be broadcasting the games for free as of this post.

There are two ways to watch the games on beIN, if you already have a beIN receiver and a subscription, you can add the World Cup package to your existing subscription as an add-on. If you don’t have a Bein box then you have two options:

beIN Sports
Subscribe to the World Cup 2022 stand-alone package with beIN but this setup isn’t going to be cheap since the stand-alone package will cost you $225 without the receiver.

TOD Tournament Ticket
TOD is a subscription-based streaming platform that launched early this year. They exclusively host beIN SPORTS content and offer a World Cup 2022 package for $80. With this subscription you get unlimited access to beIN SPORTS channels MAX 1-6 from the 1st of November to the 31st of December. Their app is available for both iOS and Android devices and supports the ability to cast onto your television using Airplay or Chromecast.

If there is an alternative way to watch the World Cup 2022 legally, let me know in the comments.

The Touristic Enterprises Company is nearly done constructing a container park on Salmiya’s Blajat beach which they’re calling “KWT FAN BOX”. The container park is being built to broadcast the World Cup 2022 matches which are going to start on November 20th and continue into December.

The container park will have various entertainment and sports activities, cafes, and restaurants as well as five screens broadcasting the games. Four of the screens will be distributed around the container park with a fifth main and gigantic 11x6m screen located in the center. There will be 1,500 parking spots available which hopefully should be enough or else there will be even more major congestion on that already heavily congested street.

Some of the restaurants and shops that will be opening at the park include:

300f
A Store
Al Rifai
Ebn 3amy
Face/Off
Froyo
Haagen-Dazs
Illy Cafe
Joy Cafe
Kalemat
Lulu’s Tea House
Meme’s Curry
Ole
Ratio Cafe
Rib Eye Steak House
Sakura
Saray
Shake Shack
Starbucks
Tuta Sushi
Yoosee’s Chicken

KWT FAN BOX is expected to open on November 20th but I passed by yesterday and it looked like there was still a lot of work to be done so I’m very curious to see if they’ll manage to finish on time. Once it does finish the park will be open daily from 10AM until midnight.

Ticket prices are as follows:

Entrance ticket per person: 2.5 KD
Entry is free for children under the age of five
Entry is free for the domestic workers accompanying a family
For groups of 4 people or more, the entrance ticket is 2 KD per person

Here is the location of the park on Google Maps. To stay posted on the project, check out their Instagram account @kwt.fan.box

Update: KWT FAN BOX is now open.

The Belgian football team who are competing in the World Cup later this month in Qatar will be playing their last friendly game this Friday in Kuwait against Egypt. The match is taking place at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium and tickets are currently on sale starting at 10KD.

If you want to watch the game live, you can buy tickets from here.

The padel obsession has gotten so out of hand that courts are starting to pop up inside malls. Symphony Mall in Salmiya now has a padel court inside and oddly, I don’t think that’s even the weirdest place a padel court has popped up in Kuwait. I think the weirdest is the one located inside a car paint protection center and then there is another one located inside a car garage. I don’t think padel is even a thing anymore, is it?

Last year I posted about Maher Barakat, the first and only Kuwaiti to ever be drafted it to the NFL as well as being the first football player from his college to go pro. Maher broke college and division records and became really well known in his town back in the 1960s earning him the nickname Bear-Cat.

Last night, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology decided to honor Maher with an induction into their hall of fame. The ceremony was streamed live and Maher’s grandson accepted the induction on his behalf with a heartwarming speech. As of this post, the induction ceremony is available to watch online at the following link (Maher gets inducted at the 51min mark)

If you missed the post on how Maher made it to the NFL, click here.

The 24H Series sports car and touring car international racing series is coming to Kuwait. Kuwait Motor Town is set to host the final round of the 2022 24H SERIES, marking the first time a venue in Kuwait has hosted an international circuit racing event.

The inaugural Hankook 12H KUWAIT will take place from 30 November to 2 December, just over two months after the final European round of the 24H SERIES at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 9-10-11 September and just six weeks before the 2023 season opener at the Dubai Autodrome on 13-14-15 January, with a format and a date for the event also confirmed.

To summarize, this is a pretty big deal. KMT opened in 2018 with the aim to eventually host international racing events and this will be the first of eventually many more racing to come. We have a pretty great track layout (video above) so I’m really interested to see how it works for races. To stay posted on this event and other, Kuwait Motor Town is on Instagram @kmtkw