16th edition of Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon announced for February 2023

16th edition of Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon announced for February 2023
The 2022 RAK Half Marathon saw new course records set in the men's and women's categories. (RAKTDA)
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Updated 24 May 2022

16th edition of Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon announced for February 2023

16th edition of Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon announced for February 2023
  • Under Armour named as the race’s new technical partner for the world’s fastest half marathon.

RAS AL-KHAIMAH: The Ras Al-Khaimah Tourism Development Authority announced that the 16th edition of the Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon will take place on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, with leading sportswear brand Under Armour named as the new technical partner.

Al-Marjan Island will again host the world’s fastest half marathon, which will see some of the best long-distance athletes, running enthusiasts and amateurs from across the globe compete in one of the key sporting events on the UAE calendar. Registration for next year’s race is now open.

Iyad Rasbey, executive director, Destination Tourism Development & MICE at RAKTDA, said: “We are thrilled to announce the 16th edition of the world’s fastest half marathon to our nature emirate. The Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon has gone from strength to strength with each passing year and I am confident that the 2023 edition of the race will be no different.

“The standard of high-level performances along with the number of records broken that we witnessed in February truly demonstrates how popular the Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon is, attracting some of the world’s best elite runners and participants from across the world as well as the local community,” he added.

RAKTDA also announced that Under Armour will sponsor the half marathon as technical partner. The sports brand will provide all participants with its latest, top-of-line apparel to help ensure comfort while improving performance as runners take to the fast and flat course track.

“We are incredibly proud and excited to partner with the Ras Al-Khaimah Tourism Development Authority and the RCS Sports & Events organization for what is one of the world’s leading running events,” said Lee Devon, vice president of Under Armour. “At Under Armour, it is our mission to make all athletes better and we do this through the lens of great product, innovation and by providing opportunities for all athletes to take part in sport. We recently opened our first store in Ras Al-Khaimah. This and our other stores across the emirates will become hubs for all athletes as they prepare for this event.”

The announcement comes only a few months after world half marathon record holder Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda (57:56) and Ethiopia’s Girmawit Gebrzihair (1:04:14) set new course records in the men’s and women’s elite categories respectively. Their triumphs were among the highlights of the Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon, which saw a number of new records being set on the day, as well as some impressive performances and times across the categories.

As well as Kiplimo producing a 15-km world best time of 40:43 on his way to victory, the event also featured a new British record by Eilish McColgan. In just her second competitive half marathon, she smashed Paula Radcliffe’s British 21-year-old half marathon record, clocking an incredible total time of 1:06:26.


Klinsmann no success yet as Uruguay beat S. Korea 2-1

Klinsmann no success yet as Uruguay beat S. Korea 2-1
Updated 12 sec ago

Klinsmann no success yet as Uruguay beat S. Korea 2-1

Klinsmann no success yet as Uruguay beat S. Korea 2-1

SEOUL: Jurgen Klinsmann is still waiting for his first win as head coach of South Korea after Uruguay triumphed 2-1 in a friendly played at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Tuesday.

The former Germany and US coach was appointed last month and his first match in charge was a 2-2 home draw with Colombia on Friday.

After Korea progressed to the second round of last year’s World Cup at the expense of Uruguay, the result provided some measure of revenge for the visiting team.

The meeting between the two teams in Qatar ended 0-0 but it only took Sebastian Coates 10 minutes to open the scoring for Uruguay, after he rose above the Korean defense to head home a corner from Federico Valverde.

Six minutes into the second half, midfielder Hwang In-beom fired home a shot from inside the penalty area. But Lazio’s Matias Vecino grabbed the winner in the 63rd minute, scoring from close range after goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo parried a Joaquin Piquerez
free kick.

With six minutes remaining, Kim Young-gwon headed home but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper.

Just four days after defeating Ecuador 3-1 in Sydney, Australia lost to the same opposition 2-1 in Melbourne.

Brandon Borrello put the Socceroos ahead after 16 minutes but two second-half goals, the first a Pervis Estupinan penalty and the second from William Pacho after 65 minutes, gave Ecuador the win.


Japan coach demands ‘control’ after Borre stunner gives Colombia victory

Japan coach demands ‘control’ after Borre stunner gives Colombia victory
Updated 6 min 35 sec ago

Japan coach demands ‘control’ after Borre stunner gives Colombia victory

Japan coach demands ‘control’ after Borre stunner gives Colombia victory
  • Colombia showed more attacking intent after the break and Jorge Carrascal almost scored

OSAKA: Japan coach Hajjime Moriyasu said he wanted to “build a team that can control games” after his side threw away an early lead to lose 2-1 to Colombia in a friendly on Tuesday.

Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma put Japan ahead with a towering header in the third minute in Osaka but Colombia equalized later in the first half through Aston Villa teenager Jhon Duran.

Rafael Borre then scored a spectacular overhead winner just after the hour mark, launching himself into a right-footed strike that whistled past Japan goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt.

Japan drew 1-1 with Uruguay in Tokyo last week and Moriyasu said he was frustrated not to claim a win in his team’s first home games since reaching the World Cup last 16 in Qatar in December.

“We were aiming for the win, we prepared well and we scored the opening goal, so it was disappointing not to win that game,” he said.

“We’re aiming to win no matter the situation. I want to build a team that can control games,” he added.

Mitoma has been in scintillating form since joining Brighton last summer and he gave Japan the perfect start when he rose to thump Hidemasa Morita’s cross past Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.

“It was a great cross from Morita and all I had to do was get on the end of it,” said Mitoma, who has scored six goals in the Premier League this season.

“We scored at a good time but the way the game played out after that is something we have to work on.”

Colombia saw little of the ball in the first half but they equalized in the 33rd minute when Deiver Machado raided down the left before cutting the ball back for Duran to sweep home.

Colombia showed more attacking intent after the break and Jorge Carrascal almost scored with a deflected shot that looped up and over the crossbar.

Borre showed him how it was done just minutes later, and Colombia held on to their lead when Vargas kept out Japan striker Ayase Ueda’s header with a point-blank save.

“Uruguay and Colombia were great opponents for us and we all felt how hard they go in for the ball,” said Japan’s Ko Itakura, acting as captain with Maya Yoshida and other veterans not called up for the two games.

“Now I want us all to go back to our clubs and raise our level individually.”


IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return

IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return
Updated 28 March 2023

IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return

IOC details advice to let Russia, Belarus athletes return
  • That decision will be taken “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said
  • The Russian Defense Ministry has said more than 20 of the country’s medalists at the Tokyo Olympics staged in 2021 held military ranks

GENEVA: Some Russian athletes can soon return to international sports, although their status for next year’s Paris Olympics is still up in the air.
The International Olympic Committee recommended Tuesday that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to return to competition under a neutral status as long as they have no military links. But the IOC, facing increased pressure to ban Russia and Belarus from the Paris Olympics because of the war in Ukraine, held off on deciding whether they can compete at next year’s Summer Games.
That decision will be taken “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. When it comes to other events, including Olympic qualifiers, it will be up to each individual sport’s governing body to make the final decision on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can take part.
While the IOC said Russia and Belarus should remain barred from team sports such as soccer and basketball, it still defied repeated calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to exclude all Russian athletes while his country is being occupied and attacked. But athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus who have actively supported the war in Ukraine, or are “contracted to the military or national security agencies”, should not be cleared to compete as neutral individuals, Bach said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said more than 20 of the country’s medalists at the Tokyo Olympics staged in 2021 held military ranks. Of the 71 medals won in Japan, 45 were by athletes affiliated with the Central Sports Club of the Army.
In team sports, Russia and Belarus “cannot be considered” for a return, Bach said at a news conference after what he said was a unanimous agreement among the 15-member executive board.
Team events in other sports, such as relays or mixed doubles or team all-around in gymnastics, should also be off limits, the IOC said in a document explaining its guidance.
“There is definitely discrimination in this,” veteran Russian gymnastics coach Valentina Rodionenko said in comments reported by RIA Novosti, adding that with “conditions like these, they understand very well that Russia itself will not agree to them.”
In the guidance document, the IOC said it would like Russians and Belarusians to be known as Individual Neutral Athletes with the French acronym AIN.
They should wear uniforms that are either entirely white or a single color, and can’t have a team logo. Athletes should be barred from displaying their national flags on social media or making statements “that may be prejudicial to the interests of the competition, its integrity or the participant’s neutrality,” the 5-page document stated.
The IOC’s recommendations “do not concern” the Paris Games that opens in 16 months’ time.
“The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time at its full discretion,” said Bach, adding that “we are not kicking it down the road” when asked if the IOC was effectively buying time for the war to end.
The individual Olympic sports must now decide the entry and eligibility conditions for their events, which include ongoing qualifiers for the Paris Olympics and beyond to the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.
Some Olympic sports, such as track and field and gymnastics, have established independent integrity units that earned wide respect. The position of some sports bodies which have strong sporting, commercial and political ties to Russia is less clear.
The suggested conditions are stricter than when Russia was under sanctions for doping cases at each Winter and Summer Games since 2018. In those events, uniforms in national colors could be worn and music by Tchaikovsky was played when Russian athletes won gold medals.
The IOC also said that event organizers should not fly Russian or Belarusian flags and should try to prevent spectators bringing national flags into venues. Four fans with Russian flags, including one with an image of President Vladimir Putin, were evicted after they flew them at the Australian Open tennis event in January.
The IOC advice presented Tuesday marks a profound shift in sport’s position on Russia and Belarus following a near-total exclusion by most governing bodies.
Within days of the war starting in February last year, the IOC urged sports bodies to isolate Russia and Belarus. It cited an “extremely grave violation” of the Olympic Truce in place for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, plus the integrity and security of sports events, including the unfairness that Russians could train in peace while Ukrainians athletes’ lives were disrupted.
In January, the IOC formally announced it would seek a “pathway for athletes’ participation in competition under strict conditions”, with a view to letting Russians and Belarusians try to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Bach has repeatedly pointed to advice from independent UN-recognized human rights experts that excluding athletes based only on their passports would be discrimination.
On Tuesday, Bach said one factor that changed IOC thinking is some sports having already reintegrated neutral Russians and Belarusians, such as tennis and cycling. Soccer’s exclusion of Russian teams by FIFA and UEFA was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Zelensky has consistently called for all Russian athletes and teams to be excluded. His call is backed by some governments and Olympic bodies in Europe and elsewhere.
“A slap in the face of Ukrainian athletes,” the sports minister of Bach’s native Germany, Nancy Faeser, said Tuesday in reaction to the IOC announcement. “Those who let the warmonger Russia use international competitions for its propaganda are damaging the Olympic idea of peace and international understanding.”
Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pazdnyakov told the Tass agency the guidelines would block athletes from competing: “The decision is a farce, the basic principles of the Olympic Charter are being breached.”
Ukrainian athletes, including past and current Olympic medalists, have also publicly disagreed with the IOC’s stated “unifying mission” to bring the world together peacefully in sport.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said there should be no Russian delegation at her city’s Olympics if the war in Ukraine continues.
Bach was once close to Putin ahead of the steroid-tainted 2014 Sochi Winter Games in the first year of his IOC leadership, and reminded reporters Tuesday that last year he withdrew an Olympic honor from the Russian president.
Asked if he had communicated recently with Putin, Bach replied: “A clear ‘no.’”


FIFA museum case against Blatter dropped

FIFA museum case against Blatter dropped
Updated 28 March 2023

FIFA museum case against Blatter dropped

FIFA museum case against Blatter dropped
  • "The investigation did not confirm the suspicion of breach of obligations by way of unfair management," Zurich prosecutors said
  • FIFA filed a criminal complaint in December 2020 against the former head of world football's governing body for "criminal mismanagement"

GENEVA: Swiss authorities announced on Tuesday the end of legal proceedings against former FIFA president Sepp Blatter over the alleged mismanagement of its Zurich museum.
The Zurich public prosecutor’s department “has closed criminal proceedings against two former FIFA officials in connection to the FIFA museum,” it said in a statement.
“The investigation did not confirm the suspicion of breach of obligations by way of unfair management,” it added.
FIFA filed a criminal complaint in December 2020 against the former head of world football’s governing body for “criminal mismanagement” over the construction of the museum, a project spearheaded by Blatter.
It claimed the museum claimed generated a bill of 500 million Swiss francs ($564 million) that instead “could and should have been channeled into the development of global football.”
Under Blatter, FIFA said it spent $140 million on refurbishing and renovating an office building and signed an “unfavorable” long-term rental agreement above market rates that will cost the organization $360 million by its date of expiration in 2045.
However, according to the Zurich public prosecutor, “it was not possible to establish wrongful behavior.”
The museum was opened in 2016 by Gianni Infantino following his following election as Blatter’s successor.


Sport plays key part in ambitious Makkah quality of life improvement program

Sport plays key part in ambitious Makkah quality of life improvement program
Updated 28 March 2023

Sport plays key part in ambitious Makkah quality of life improvement program

Sport plays key part in ambitious Makkah quality of life improvement program
  • Makkah mayor’s assistant undersecretary, Fahd bin Marzouq Al-Bishri, said local officials were looking to promote sporting activities and competition

MAKKAH: Ambitious plans aimed at improving the quality of life for people in Makkah have so far seen the building of 118 sports venues and numerous pedestrian zones.

Football, volleyball, and tennis courts are among the new facilities that have been provided by Makkah Municipality throughout the city and affiliated governorates.

Makkah mayor’s assistant undersecretary, Fahd bin Marzouq Al-Bishri, said local officials were looking to promote sporting activities and competition, particularly among youth, while also spotting talent.

The municipality has more than 843,000 square meters of green zones containing dedicated areas set aside for leisure pursuits.

Dr. Turki Al-Hamidi, a resident of Al-Shoqiyah neighborhood in Makkah, said the municipality’s initiatives would not only help improve the health of the population but also create a more vibrant and aesthetically pleasing environment.

“This directly contributes to people’s happiness and eliminates negative phenomena, the most important of which are removing random graffiti on walls, reducing construction waste, and ensuring street cleanliness,” he added.

Ali Al-Harthy, from Al-Sharia in eastern Makkah, said it was important to make cities more competitive and smarter while improving the quality of life for residents.

“We all must focus on the human dimension and take into account the wide design of playgrounds, parks, and main streets, and respect aspects of design, especially in green spaces, as they are considered environmentally friendly concepts,” he added.

More than 226,000 trees and 15,000 palm trees have planted in the municipality as part of a major landscaping program.

Al-Harthy said: “Officials must realize how important it is for people to take strolls, especially since Makkah receives over 2 million visitors, so its infrastructure and streets must be in harmony with the ambitious vision of the Kingdom, particularly since Makkah is loved by people from around the world and has been known as a civilized city throughout history.”

He noted that public areas were being built or redesigned to meet international standards that ensured access for all.