THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 SPORTS KSSC will not march under Olympic flag By Abdellatif Sharaa Eng. Al-Otaibi found it strange for the IOC to suspend Kuwait Sport activity KUWAIT: President of the Arab and claiming government interference in Kuwait Shooting Federations, Chairman sports. He said “our laws agree with the of Kuwait Shooting Sport Club reiterated international ones and the Olympic that the KSSC will not participate in Rio charter, and our wise government does de Janeiro, 2016 Olympics under the not interfere in sports affairs. Our gov- Olympic flag. ernment gave us lots of moral support, Engineer Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi and the achievements of Kuwait shoot- chaired the extraordinary meeting of the ing in various championships would not general assembly Tuesday evening at have been achieved without the major Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Shooting support of our government and political Complex, to discuss amendments on its leadership that pays great attention to statutes. Shooters Khalid Al-Mudhaf and sports”. Al-Otaibi said that the govern- Ahmad Al-Fasi qualified for the Brazil ment built the largest shooting complex 2016 Olympics. He said “we are unaware in the world as a gift to our athletes, of the decision to suspend activities, but which is Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad I once again confirm that KSSC will not Olympic Shooting Complex. participate under the Olympic flag. He He said there are many countries in said what took place in Guangzhou in the region where their clubs do not have 2010 will not be repeated in Rio. democratic elections, and despite that When asked about the Asian we did not hear that IOC has done any- Championship to be held in a few days, thing about them, but our problem here Al-Otaibi said if the IOC applies its deci- in Kuwait is “from us”, as there are those sion and prevents us from hosting the who are conspiring against the sports of championship “then we will take the IOC their country and relay everything to to court, preparations have been going IOC. on for a long time and cost us large Engineer Duaij Al-Otaibi opened the amount of money, while representatives extraordinary general assembly by wel- of 40 countries are already in Kuwait, so coming general assembly members then they will be responsible for any damage discussed the amendments on the that may affect us, and we will not let statutes which were approved unani- them hurt the reputation of Kuwait. mously. Big sister helps Downie turn despair into triumph GLASGOW: It took just two hours for 16-year- “Being the elder sister, you do feel it as I knew before starting her run then launched herself old Ellie Downie to come of age on Tuesday as she would be disappointed,” said Becky, the 23- high into a soaring vault. When she landed both she turned utter despair into joyous celebrations year-old stalwart of the British team. feet together with a thud, the hollering crowd by giving Britain their first ever team medal at “No one wants that to happen because you jumped up knowing they had witnessed British the gymnastics world championships. put in so much work into it. It’s not like you fall history. Watched by a boisterous partisan crowd in on purpose. So we just had to pull her together. I A score of 15.133 confirmed Britain had the 8,000-seater Hydro Arena, Downie’s world told her she could go to the beam and either leapfrogged Russia and Japan into the bronze appeared to come crashing down when she fell throw it away or she can smash it and bring it medal position with a combined total of on her hands and knees after losing her grip on back.” 172.380. the asymmetric bars during her opening per- With her sister’s words ringing in her ears, Barely a couple of hours after registering the formance of the evening. Ellie put in solid performances on the balance host nation’s lowest score of the evening, Ellie With every score counting in the team final, beam and floor exercise but Britain still trailed in was mobbed by her team mates after she the anguished look on her face told its own story fifth place behind the United States, China, earned them their highest mark of the final. long before the giant screen flashed up the Russia and Japan with one rotation to go. “She showed what a fighter she is and she SINGAPORE: Garbine Muguruza of Spain makes a forehand return against Angelique judges’ verdict of her performance. Team mates Claudia Fragapane and Amy should be really, really proud,” said Becky, who Kerber of Germany during their singles match at the WTA tennis finals. —AP A score of 13.033 did little to ease her pain Tinkler revived hopes of a medal by nailing their joined her team mates in taking a lap of hon- but that is when big sister and team mate Becky vaults in the final rotation but Ellie knew she too our with giant Union Jack flags flapping in Downie stepped in to whisper some words of would need an impressive leap if those dreams their wake. “It’s a massive, massive achieve- Muguruza muscles way comfort in her ear. were to be realised. She stared down the runway ment.” —Reuters to verge of WTA semis SINGAPORE: Spanish sensation Garbine in the doubles, tops White Group but she is Muguruza dominated Angelique Kerber 6- not into the semis yet and still needs to 4, 6-4 yesterday to put one foot in the WTA play Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic on Finals last four on her debut in the season- Friday. ending tournament. The top two in each round-robin group The 22-year-old, who rose to world will reach the semi-finals. The event fea- number three on Monday, aggressively tures the top eight women’s players apart attacked from the net and dictated play for from world number one Williams, who opt- most of the match against her more experi- ed to rest. enced opponent. Earlier two-time Wimbledon champion Super-confident Muguruza, with just Kvitova kept her hopes alive and pushed two titles to her name, said she was already Safarova to the verge of elimination with a eyeing a spot in the Singapore final after 7-5, 7-5 win over her fellow Czech left-han- beating Lucie Safarova and now Germany’s der. Kerber to stand on the brink of the semis. The world number five and 2011 cham- “Every time I step on the court against pion has never lost to Safarova, her close Angelique I know it’s going to be a very friend and Fed Cup partner, holding a 8-0 tough match-we played an unbelievable record across all surfaces. match today,” Muguruza said. “I’m really glad that I was able to play “I’m really motivated to be here. It’s my and win the kind of match after my loss in first time in Singapore singles so I really the first match here,” said Kvitova, who lost want to come here and win all the matches to Kerber in her opening match. I can and hopefully be in the final,” she The two Czechs said they are also look- added. ing forward to playing together when they Left-handed Kerber, 27, was broken four face Russia in the Fed Cup final in Prague times by the tall but quick Spaniard, who from November 14-15. won in Beijing this month and was runner- Kvitova and Safarova have led the Czech up to Serena Williams at Wimbledon in July. Republic to three trophies from the last “I think right now she had a lot of confi- four editions of the Fed Cup. “We actually dence from the last few weeks, and I think are good friends from the Fed Cup, so I’m that helps her like to be very confident in really glad the Fed Cup is coming soon and the important moment and just go for it,” we going to be colleagues and not oppo- Kerber said. nents,” Kvitova said. Maria Sharapova, who “I think that’s why she is so dangerous now leads the Red Group in Singapore, will right now.” Muguruza, who is also playing anchor the Russian Fed Cup line-up. —AFP GLASGOW: Simone Biles of the US performs on the balance beam during the women’s team final competition at the World Artistic Gymnastics championships at the SSE Hydro Arena. —AP Czech mates ready for Fed Cup final US blow away rivals SINGAPORE: After suffering her eighth Double Wimbledon champion Kvitova consecutive loss to Petra Kvitova, Czech said Wednesday’s victory, like so many of for third team gold compatriot Lucie Safarova was understand- their previous matches both in tourna- ably relieved to know she would be lining ments and practice over the last decade, up alongside rather than opposite her simply came down to a couple of key GLASGOW: Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas American to compete on all four apparatus, and Madison Kocian proving to be a dazzling friend at the Fed Cup final next month. points. “Actually these kind of scores we showed that the United States will be the team told reporters. support act to Biles’s jaw-dropping skills, the The two are key to the country’s hopes have in the practices as well, so it’s kind of to beat at next year’s Rio Olympics after they So majestic was their performance, they led Americans had no problem in living up to their of retaining the team title when they host very similar,” the 25-year-old said.