WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016 SPORTS Kenya hopeful of dodging WADA sanctions NAIROBI: Kenyan sports officials are threatened by International the WADA board meets in Montreal, delay because of the law-making the Rio 2016 Olympics if the east optimistic the country will be granted Association of Athletics Federations Canada, on May 12. process, and they will give us the nec- African nation is declared non-compli- more time to pass a robust anti-doping (IAAF) president Sebastian Coe. “We are also in contact with key essary time for parliament to discuss ant. law and avoid a threatened Olympics “We have submitted all our docu- heads of IAAF and WADA especially on the bill before it is made into law,” Keino said he would press the IOC ban. ments to WADA as required,” sports the yet to be finalised anti-doping bill. Oluoch said. to also ask WADA to give Kenya more A World Anti-Doping Agency minister Hassan Wario said yesterday. So far we remain optimistic,” Wario Kenya’s Olympic chief Kipchoge time. “We have to accept that it has (WADA) deadline to tighten its anti- “Compliance required a raft of factors- said. Keino welcomed the move to seek taken us too long to pass the anti- doping law and provide funding for a about four key factors-with legalisa- Sports ministry official Gordon more time and said he would travel to doping laws, and therefore it was our proposed anti-doping agency expired tion being a part of that,” he told the Oluoch said the government would be Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday to own mistake and we cannot blame yesterday with lawmakers having local Citizen TV channel. seeking a further extension from meet with International Olympic WADA or the IOC,” said Keino. “But we failed to pass a bill criminalising sports Wario said Kenya had fulfilled its WADA after missing Tuesday’s deadline Committee (IOC) officials over the mat- have to act now since Kenya cannot doping. The bill is intended to save requirements and he did not expect it and a previous one in February. ter. WADA and IAAF have warned that afford to miss competing in the Kenyan athletes from an Olympics ban to be declared non-compliant when “They know that we have had a Kenyan athletes will be banned from Olympics in Rio.” —AFP WRESTLEMANIA ROUNDUP The Grandest stage of them all? By Thari AlRashed KUWAIT: The thirty second annual WrestleMania took place on April 3 at the AT&T stadium in Dallas, Texas. The show was filled with special appearances from fan favorites and heart clutching moments. A major announcement was also made at the grandest stage of them all. And also a record was broken with 101,763 fans in attendance. The event started with the kick off show. Three matches where shown: Kalisto vs Ryback for the United States title, The Dudley Boys vs The Usos and finally the 10 Diva tag team match between team Total Divas and team Bad and Blonde. After the Diva’s match we were treated to the first surprise of the night with an appearance by Nikki Bella. Who came out to celebrate the victory with her sister while sporting her neck brace from her recent sur- gery. The kick off show had a fresh feeling to it. Seeing the fans being escorted to their seats while matches were going on was a first in WWE programming and I oddly found that very exciting. THE SHOCKER OF THE NIGHT The first match was the six person Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental title. The contestants being the defending champion Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Zack Ryder, The Miz, Stardust and Sin Cara. That match had the only shocker of the night for me. And that was Zack Ryder winning that con- test. I did not see that happening due to his lack of push story- line wise. He’s been reduced to being a jobber since 2012 so hav- ing him win this match was a little odd for me. Also I thought that this would be Sami Zayn’s night, especially Sonny Bill Williams after the great match he had with Shinsuke Nakamura on NXT: Takeover Dallas on Friday. That match was one of if not the best match I have ever seen in my life. Thinking more of it made me Williams ‘fighting fit’ think that Zack could be used as a transitional champion. Something that was confirmed the following night on Monday Night Raw when Ryder dropped the title to The Miz, less than 24 hours after he won the strap. as Olympic bid beckons The Chris Jericho vs AJ Styles match went down as expected. Both athletes put on a stellar match that showcased why they are two of the best technical wrestlers in the history of this industry. HONG KONG: All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams is so that’s really what it was.” a lot of them would have played it. Even Sonny Bill Up next was the three on four handicap match between The New “fighting fit” after recovering from a knee injury as he Williams, who has also enjoyed a distinguished Williams said the other day, this game’s a different Day and the League of Nations. The match was not my favorite. A presses his Olympic bid at this week’s Hong Kong sev- rugby league career and has had success as a heavy- beast altogether. The conditioning levels are huge.” quantity over quality match with the League picking up the vic- ens, his captain said yesterday. weight boxer, showed no problems as he played a New Zealand, who won last month’s inaugural tory. In the end, however, we were treated to other surprise The code-hopping Rugby World Cup-winner, who practice game and sprinted the length of the pitch in Vancouver sevens, are hoping for another strong appearances by Hall Of Famers Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and is now trying to bag Olympic gold, missed the last training. showing in Hong Kong, the highlight of the world Stone Cold Steve Austin. The legendary trio cleaned house by two world sevens series tournaments but appeared “Sonny Bill Williams is fine. He loves the sport. He’s series and regarded a dress rehearsal for the Olympic untroubled in training yesterday. a great athlete, he commits himself really well, he’s sevens in August. taking the League of Nations out. “He’s fighting fit. He was disappointed to miss the got such a professional work ethic,” Tietjens said. After Hong Kong, the world series heads to last ones through a bit of injury and he’s ready to go,” “He’s a great example for all the other younger Singapore, Paris and London before rugby makes its STEALING THE SHOW captain Tim Mikkelson told reporters in Hong Kong. players that are coming into the sevens environment return to the Olympic Games in Rio after a 92-year The following two matches stole the show in my humble opin- Williams suffered a swollen knee before the Las Vegas and that’s what’s really special about him: he just sets absence. ion. Them being the Brock Lesner vs Dean Ambrose and the sevens, with unconfirmed reports in New Zealand high standards. It’s great for the environment.” “I’ve got players that are hungry to be an triple threat match for the newly reestablished WWE women’s saying the problem was exacerbated by an economy- Despite his pedigree, Tietjens said even a player of Olympian,” Tietjens said. “They all want to go to Rio, championship. The brawl between Brock and Dean lead to me class long-haul flight to the United States. Williams’ standing needed tournaments and intense and every time they go out and they play in that black become a fan of Mr. Ambrose. Even though he lost, he did so Coach Gordon Tietjens was non-committal about conditioning work to successfully switch to fast-mov- jersey, it’s a performance they want to remember as with flair after putting himself in numerous dangerous situations. the economy-class theory but he said Williams, 30, ing, hard-running sevens. about what puts them in that team to go to Rio. He shined in defeat which isn’t an easy task to accomplish. had been training hard before the problem flared. “I “You just cannot make the transition in a short “So that’s why it’s (Hong Kong) really important. The Triple Threat match between Charlotte, Sasha Banks and really can’t answer that,” he said. “He’d just basically space of time,” he said. “You’ve got to play world series We can’t afford not to play well and the players can’t Becky Lynch was the match of the night and was the most antici- come off a pretty hard training week and it flared up tournaments. “The game’s evolved since the last time afford not to play well.” —AFP pated women’s pro-wrestling match not only in the history of WrestleMania but the entire industry. The women had a lot of expectations to live up to and they did not disappoint. Mutombo urges more Asians The reintroduction of the Women’s Championship solidified the revolution of the women’s division that started about a year ago. The match was filled with great spots, like the top turn- to follow Yao Ming’s lead buckle moonsault that Charlotte delivered to both Sasha and SINGAPORE: Basketball legend Dikembe he gave to us. I can’t wait to give him a big hug,” Becky outside the ring.