THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2017 SPORTS Kalou extends Goetze to miss season Hertha contract Call for athlete rights charter with metabolic disorder in fallout of Russian doping DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze will miss the rest BERLIN: Ex-Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou yesterday extended his Hertha Berlin of the season while he receives treatment for a metabolic disorder that is contract, which had been due to expire in June, with reports the new deal runs LAUSANNE: A World Anti-Doping Agency panel is pro- causing muscle problems, the Bundesliga club said yesterday. Goetze, who until 2020. “I feel very comfortable in Berlin and I still have plenty that I want to posing a charter to formally protect the rights of ath- has made 16 appearances in all competitions this term, was achieve with Hertha Berlin. I would like to help the team continue to progress letes. WADA athlete committee chairwoman Beckie Scott pulled out of training last month after investigations as it has in the last few years,” said the 31-year-old Kalou. The Ivory Coast for- by the club revealed he had “metabolic disturbances.” ward joined Hertha for 1.8m euros ($1.9m) from Lille in 2014, who he says “athletes are frustrated and are asking that their ‘rights’ with respect to clean, fair sport be recognized “The long term target for the player is to be fully fit had joined in 2012 following six years with Chelsea. At Hertha and ready to play for the start of next season,” the this season he has scored six goals and provided four assists in and protected.” WADA says its athlete panel worked on the proposal after two investigations revealed wide- club said on their website (www.bvb.de). “If he 16 games so far. Hertha has not stipulated how long the new responds positively to treatment, Goetze can start contract is for, but German daily Bild claims it will run for spread doping and cover-ups in Russian track and field and other sports, including at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. back training in early summer. The midfield player is another three years. Hertha’s director of sport Michael Preetz currently undergoing rehab and an individual train- Athletes in some sports have challenged governing bod- said Kalou, who has scored 30 goals in 86 appearances for ing programme.” Champions League quarter-final- ies to be tougher reacting to findings from the WADA- Berlin, turned down other clubs to stay. Head coach Pal Dardai ists Dortmund are third in the Bundesliga, 16 points is pleased to keep the club’s potent partnership intact with appointed investigations. At a WADA conference in behind leaders Bayern Munich with 10 match- Kalou playing alongside Hertha’s top-scorer Vedad Ibisevic, who Lausanne, athlete representatives said priorities includ- es remaining, and host second-bottom has 10 league goals this season. “Salomon is a real champion. ed “the right to compete on a level playing field, the Ingolstadt on Friday. Dortmund also He has won everything, but despite that he is still hungry right to access education, privacy protection, legal rep- face Bayern in the German Cup semi- for more. —AFP resentation.” — AP finals. —Reuters Yemeni tennis hopeful crosses war zone to compete DOHA: Stepping onto a floodlit tennis Maqaleh. “One passenger was taken off the court in Qatar last week, 13-year-old bus. He didn’t get back on,” he said. Alhassan Ishaq tried to steady his nerves. “You should stay and fight!” a bearded The aspiring tennis champion from Houthi fighter with a gun on his shoulder Yemen had trained for months and used his said to Ishaq before waving the bus on. family’s savings crossing a war zone to Leaving behind the mountains that lead reach the Asia junior championships in to Sanaa, the bus crossed the war’s front- Qatar. Justifying the arduous trip, he not line into Marib province, where Gulf Arab only made it through the qualifying stage troops loyal to Yemen’s exiled government but pressed on to reach the last eight, lift- have assembled military outposts in the ing his ranking to 126th in Asia among desert. under-14s. Pictures of him competing in his blue t- SHRAPNEL ON COURT shirt in Doha brightened the usually som- The war has taken its toll on sport in bre pages of Yemeni newspapers - a rare Yemen. Soccer stadiums in Abyan province note of cheer in a country ravaged by two and the central city of Ibb have been dam- years of war and threatened by famine. aged in the fighting. In 2015, Yemen’s The war between a Saudi-led alliance national soccer team caught the world’s and the Shi’ite Houthi forces in control of attention by crossing the Gulf of Aden on a the capital Sanaa has killed at least 10,000 cramped fishing boat to travel to a World people, including 1,500 children, according Cup qualifying match. to the United Nations. When Saudi jets last year bombed a Countless others have been forced to go presidential palace complex close to Ishaq’s hungry or flee their homes; some are tar- club in Sanaa, shrapnel rained down on the geted for radicalisation by the Yemeni arm courts. “We found one piece, metal and of al Qaeda. Youngsters aspiring to a career charred, it was arm-length. in sport have to overcome massive obsta- It fell on the court,” said Maqaleh. Tennis cles, including damage to training facilities in Yemen is tough at the best of times: from air strikes and shelling. power cuts and sandstorms often disrupt “The war can feel impossible to ignore matches, and clubs with pot-holed courts but I have to concentrate. I just want to win lack full-time coaches and adequate fund- matches,” said a breathless Ishaq during a ing from ministries. break from training. Still, Ishaq and a handful of juniors, with “Honestly, I’m just trying to focus on the support from the International Tennis TENNIS tennis.” Unable to fly to Qatar from Sanaa Federation, have entered regional tourna- airport which was bombed in 2015, Ishaq ments and hope to gain international rank- and his coach, Osama al-Maqaleh, ings. Their ambitions are threatened by a Kuwait Eighth Open Tennis tournament embarked on a 21-hour bus journey across conflict in which close to a third of combat- Yemen’s mine-strewn interior last month to ants are children, according to UNICEF, and an airport in the eastern city of Seyoun. hundreds of thousands of children face life- concludes, Mohammad Al-Ghareeb honored Passing burnt-out buildings and villages threatening malnutrition. recently controlled by al Qaeda militants, But rebuilding the country and defying By Abdelllatif Sharaa Behbehani honoring Kuwait’s tennis player their bus was held at checkpoints by its current disasters will require kids like Mohammad Al-Ghareeb and presented him with In the juniors U-17: Houthi fighters who interrogated passen- Ishaq not to lose hope. KUWAIT: Kuwait Eighth Open Tennis a Porche car, in appreciation of his efforts to raise Ahmad Khamees, Essa Qabazard. gers and searched among luggage for “Sometimes the bombing is so loud it Tournament came to a conclusion Tuesday Kuwait’s flag in international arenas. weapons. “They asked people where they rings in your ears and we have to evacuate evening under the patronage of President of The final results of the tournament were as Women’s U-18: were from and inspected their hands to see the club,” said Maqaleh. “But the next day Kuwait and Arab Shooting Federations Sheikh follows: Fareeda Al-Ayat, Reena Al-Samrani. if they had been using weapons,” said the kids still want to play.” —Reuters Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The tournament saw 500 players of both gen- Men’s singles: Pioneers singles above 45: ders in various age groups, as 302 matches were Abdelrahman Al-Awadhi, Salah Al-Mousa. Jarokola Chowdry, Mohammad Tonaih. played. The final match and closing ceremony PAS shooting tourney also attended by chairman of Behbehani Group Men’s doubles: Pioneers Singles above 55: Ali Murad Behbehani as well as representatives Mohammad Sediq & Bejorn Rinquest, Zoran Dimitrivic, Majdi Khamees. of other sponsors including Kuwait Financial Abdelrahman Al-Awadhi & Abdallah Al-Mukaimi. to begin tomorrow Center which was represented by Abdellatif Al- Pioneers doubles above 45: Nisf, Kuwait Airways represented by Abdullah Al- Women’s singles: Marlon Olakar & Jarkola Chowdry, By Abdellatif Sharaa Sharhan and Kuwait International Bank repre- Sarah Behbehani, Dana Al-Fulaij. Mohammad Tonaih & Zoran Dimitrivic. sented by Nawaf Najiya. Player Mohammad Al-Ghareeb thanked KUWAIT: Tournament of the Public The final doubles match saw Mohammad U-11 singles: Kuwait Tennis Federation headed by Sheikh Authority for Sports, organized by Kuwait Seddiq and Bejorn Rinquest defeating Abdelwahab Al-Abdallah, Daviansh Tripathy. Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Sabah, board Shooting Sport Club will begin tomorrow Abdelrahman Al-Awadhi and Abdallah Al- members and the organizing committee for the (Friday) at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Mukaimi 6-4, 6-1. U-13 singles: outstanding organization. He also expressed Shooting Complex in Skeet, trap, Double The closing ceremony began with Ali Satiansh Tripathy, Hussein Al-Shatti. appreciation for the honoring he received. trap, 10 meter Air Rifle and Pistol and 50m Rifle. All concerned department at the club completed their preparations for the tour- nament that comes within the continued cooperation between PAS and KSSC, in Queen’s aura marks track legend Meares support of Kuwait shooters. Secretary General of Kuwait and Arab LONDON: Australian cycling great Anna Meares selves to the right of the stage as that is where my mum said ‘don’t worry she has to leave (the Shooting Federations Obaid Al-Osaimi told AFP being handed the 2018 Gold Coast the Queen would exit from.