Category: Sports

Pretty much every football field in Kuwait is being turned into a Padel court.

Comic by @hb.comics

اليوم وفي رالي الكويت حصل حادث لأبني @Azizsaadon ولله الحمد لم يصب بأذى لكن خسر المركز الثاني بسبب دخول احد المتفرحين الذين تفاداه عبدالعزيز مما ادى الى حصول الحادث
اقول الحمدالله على سلامته والله يوفقه في الجايات pic.twitter.com/eFVHZaMbMB

— سعدون الكواري (@saadon_alkuwari) March 19, 2022

Qatari rally driver Abdulaziz Saadon Alkuwari got into an accident yesterday during the FIA Middle East Rally Championship when a quad bike got across the race track. Abdulaziz narrowly missed hitting the quad bike but then lost control of the car and hit a rock causing the car to flip and crash.

You can watch footage of the crash in the tweet on top but he also has more photos and clips in his instagram story @alkuwari_rally. Luckily both he and his co-pilot escaped unharmed.

Thanks Mohamed

Around 5 years ago I posted about fencing courses at the Qadsia Fencing Academy. Since then the academy has gone through an overhaul and they’ve now revamped it with new coaches, management, and a new look. They are open again to anyone who is interested in learning to fence including both males and females, kids and adults.

The fencing academy operates three days a week from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays. They will be introducing private lessons soon but currently, they’re only offering group sessions with the first class being a free trial. The monthly membership is a very reasonable 40KD and they provide all the equipment for you. So if you’re looking for something new and interesting to try, it doesn’t get better than this.

For more information and videos you can check out their instagram @qadsiyafencingacademy. They also have a website with updated information qadisyafencingacademy.com

Padel really blew up in Kuwait with a ton of courts opening up and more still under construction. There doesn’t seem to be a one-stop solution to renting a court or buying all your gear so I’ve compiled two lists below, one of courts you can book and the other, a list of different shops selling Padel gear.

Book a Court:
Go Padel
Kuwait City Padel
Lets Padel
Padel Blu
Padel Bnaider
Play Padel
The Padel Club

Padel Gear:
All About Padel
KW Padel
Padel House
Padel Kuwait
Padel Rackets
Padel Shop
The Padel Club
The Racket Store

If I missed a court or shop, let me know in the comments so I can add it.

Back in 2017, I posted about the eSports scene in Kuwait and since then it kinda took a dip in terms of activities at one point but it looks to be gaining momentum again. Al-Bayan Bilingual School (BBS) now even has an eSports Club which is pretty cool but probably the biggest thing happening right now is VO’s X-Kuwait Esports division.

X-Kuwait is trying to develop athletes as well as set up sporting competitions like The Fifa Winter Games which is going to be held at the end of this month. The 1st place winner will get a 5,000KD cash prize, while 2nd place 3,000KD and 3rd place 1,500KD. Registration to the competition was meant to close yesterday but they’ve extended it by a day. If you want to try your chance at winning 5,000KD, it’s 10KD to register for the tournament and you need to do so today. Here is the registration link.

Also make sure you follow X-Kuwait on instagram to stay posted on other competitions that come up@xkuwait.esports

Out of curiosity, how many people here watched the last race of the Formula 1 season last night? I’m kinda curious to see how popular the sport has gotten in Kuwait especially after Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.

[poll id=”18″]

This was a surprisingly very interesting and well-put-together short video on showjumping in Kuwait. Lots of interesting tidbits on the history of the sport in Kuwait including info on how it all started. I also had no idea that in 1982 three girls from Kuwait won first, second, AND third place at the Asian Games showjumping competition. That’s pretty wild, and what a year it must have been for sports in Kuwait with the football team also taking part at the World Cup just a few months earlier.

The film is just 7 minutes long so definitely check it out. YouTube

Yesterday the Kuwait Olympic Committee announced that the 3rd GCC games will be held in Kuwait this coming January 2022. No other information was provided but here is some I managed to dig out:

• The GCC Games include Sailing, basketball, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, futsal, snooker and table tennis.

• The first GCC Games was held in Bahrain back in 2011.

• The second GCC Games was held in Saudi Arabia in 2015.

• The games are held every 4 years and were meant to be held last year but due to Covid got postponed.

• At the first GCC Games Kuwait came first with 14 gold medals, 8 silver and 7 bronze

If you want to stay posted on the 3rd GCC Games you can follow the official Kuwait Olympics account @kuwaitolympic

Back in July of last year, Adidas took over the Café Coco location in Avenues Phase 3 and a few days ago, the store finally opened up. The new location is actually a ground floor extension to the pre-existing Adidas store that was located upstairs in the SoKu area of Avenues. A lot of people didn’t know there was an Adidas there because it was tucked away, so this new extension right on the main strip provides a lot more exposure.

The ground floor space with the large upstairs area now makes it the largest Adidas store in Kuwait by far. If you want to pass by, it’s right across from Harvey Nichols.

The Saracen Race is an obstacle race consisting of a 5KM run with a combination of various obstacles like monkey bars and climbing walls. This year’s Saracen Race is going to be held on December 10th and take place on Green Island.

Registration for the race is currently open and costs 25 KD. If you’re interested in signing up or want more information, click here.

Roller Hub, the roller skating rink located in Salmiya opened up earlier this month with not so controversial prices. Although they had originally announced an hour of roller skating was going to cost KD20, they eventually launched with a much more reasonable price of 5KD an hour which also includes the skates.

The reviews on Google have been mostly negative (1.7 out of 5 stars) and according to a friend who went they seem to play mostly Arabic music so that’s something to note. But if you’re interested in trying it out, the rink is located on the 4th floor of a shopping complex (Map) and they’re open from 12PM to 12AM and no children under 15 years of age are allowed. They’re on instagram @rollerhubkw

Photo via @halkizoshe_ifbbpro

Assima Mall located in Kuwait City is expected to open in a few weeks and with that Kuwait’s first official UFC GYM.

The UFC GYM is going to be pretty big at 4,000sqm and in addition to being a regular fitness gym, they’ll also be offering various MMA classes. Their Instagram account went live a few days ago so you could follow them to stay updated @ufcgymkuwait

For a sneak peek at Assima Mall, click here.

If you’ve been to Al-Rai area recently you might have noticed a Nike store that was under construction next to True Value. The construction work is now complete and the store is officially open, turns out it’s their new outlet location.

The Nike outlet is two floors, the ground floor for men and the top floor for women. They had a ton of stuff for sale and all heavily discounted. I was hoping to find some cool Metcons for sale but ended up finding only one color combo which I didn’t like but you might find something you like.

If you want to check the place out they’re open 10AM to 10PM on weekdays and 10AM to 11PM on weekends. Here is the location on Google Maps.

This is such an 80s sport which is why I think it would be great fun to get into. The Kuwait Sailing School offers windsurfing classes and the next one is set for October 15th. It’s a 2 part beginners course that will teach you how to lift the sail up from the water to do your first rides in both directions.

The cost is KD75 and if you’re interested you can book a spot by visiting their website kwtsailing.com/learn-to-windsurf

I like how everything is starting to come back again, it’s definitely giving me a sense that life is getting back to normal. Just as Staged in Kuwait is coming back, NFL Kuwait events are also coming back for this new season. They’ll be announcing details on their instagram soon but for now, they’ve released a complementary schedule poster that has all the season games in Kuwait local time.

If you want to pick up a poster, they’re available at Rite Cafe in Cube Mall, Salmiya from 10:00am to 3:00pm. There is a limited number of posters available and so there is a limit of one poster per fan. To stay posted on the NFL Kuwait activities, follow their Instagram account @nflkuwait