Rafael Nadal the currently ranked world no. 2 in men’s tennis is in Kuwait right now for his exhibition match against David Ferrer, the three-time Davis Cup champion. The match is taking place today at the brand new tennis complex that’s part of 360 Mall and where the Rafa Nadal Academy will be located.
Tickets were being sold for KD75 back in December and I regret not buying one since they’re all sold out now and very hard to come by. Both 360 Mall and the Rafa Nadal Academy have been posting lots of stories of his visit, so if you want to see what’s going on then check out both their accounts @mall360 and @rafanadalacademykuwait
CAPSULE, the “Virtual Experience Center” have taken it upon themselves to recreate the Kuwait Motor Town race track virtually. The track is extremely accurate to the point they might have replicated the same tire skid marks that are actually on the track.
So if you’ve been wanting to experience the race track but haven’t been able to then this is a pretty good alternative since the simulation is fairly realistic.
If you’ve never heard of CAPSULE or been to it then you should check out my previous about it here. A virtual experience center is an arcade that allows you to experience virtual reality games. They’re located near Avenues and you can check them out on instagram @capsulevec
There is a new and large ice skating rink that opened up in Bayan a few days ago called Kuwait Winter Games Club Ice Rink. It popped out of nowhere with very little to no information and what’s even more impressive is the fact that the Kuwait 2020 Open Championship for Professional Arab Ice Hockey Clubs is taking place there right now.
All the information I’ve been able to find is in Arabic and there really isn’t that much information anyway but I was able to find out that the rink is an IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) approved size and that all future IIHF tournaments will be held there instead of the Ice Skating Rink in the city. My guess this new rink was created because they had announced that they were going to demolish the old rink (they’re not going to anymore).
Why are these things basically kept a secret in Kuwait I don’t know. I couldn’t even find a half-decent shot of the rink and had to get the one on top from the Jeddah Ice Sports Club while the video above from the Kuwait Ice Hockey Girls Team.
If you want to check out some more pictures of the rink or see the schedule for the hockey championship that’s taking place right now then check out the Kuwait Winter Games instagram account @kuwait_wgc. I’m going to try and pass by tonight to check it out as well. Here is the location of the rink on Google Maps.
Update: I dropped by today to watch the UAE team match against Bahrain. The ice skating rink looks like it still needs work, kinda felt like a pop-up ice skating rink. I guess the rink still needs work but they had to open as is right now because of the championship and then complete the work once the tournament is done. The rink isn’t centered under the roof properly which was super annoying when trying to capture a nice centered photo plus the scoreboard didn’t seem to be working either so I didn’t even know what the final score was.
Even with those issues it was actually really fun watching the game and I’ll probably be going back to watch some more. There isn’t an entrance fee or anything of the sort, you just walk in and sit wherever you want to watch the game. I think there was more closed off VIP seating than there was regular seating but really the best seat in the house is standing ringside anyway.
Deputy Minister of Public Works Ismail Al-Failakawi announced that the new airport project will open in August 2022, according to the schedule, indicating that the second package project for the airport has been recommended for award at the lowest prices, and we are awaiting the final approval of the agency reports Al Rai.
Al-Failakawi said, on the sidelines of the inspection tour organized by the Ministry yesterday in the presence of Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development Khaled Mahdi, “There are no obstacles facing the project, as work is currently being done in cooperation and coordination with the contractor, consultant and the Supreme Council for Planning to remove any obstacles.” He explained that the project is going According to the schedule, there is no delay, as the completion rate was 26.9 percent. Source
I’m not trying to be pessimistic here but I passed by the new airport this past weekend (picture above) and I can’t see how it will be completed by August 2022. That’s just two years away which seems crazy but then again, it’s a Diwan Amiri project so maybe 2 more years of construction doesn’t seem too far reached.
Chevrolet Alghanim have the new 2020 Corvette on display at the Kuwait Motor Show that’s currently taking place at 360 Mall. The car looks really good in person and I was told the first shipment would be arriving in Kuwait in May. Half the shipment has already been sold before arriving and that probably has to do with the price tag. The new Corvette starts at KD22,000 which is actually a great value considering what you’re getting in return. A fully specced out Corvette is around KD30,000. If you were thinking about buying the new Corvette then you should probably place an order before the whole shipment sells out (if it hasn’t already).
I didn’t realize so much was going on this weekend until I put the list together. Tons of stuff to do so check out the full list of this weekend’s events below.
One of the writers for the publication The Points Guy UK came to Kuwait to see if it was one of the most boring tourist destinations in the world. Instead, he found Kuwait interesting even though based on his article he didn’t really venture out much outside the city. Check out his article here.
This year’s Qout Market is located in the best location yet so if you missed out on the first one it’s back again this weekend. Also tonight is the last night of Giselle by the Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company, limited seats are still available so book now! Check out the full list of events below.
