Category: Athletic

LONDON, Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon, citing an abdominal muscle tear, the night before his scheduled semifinal with Nick Kyrgios, sending Kyrgios into Sunday’s final.

Nadal, the record 22-time Grand Slam men’s singles champion reportedly said Thursday night that he had abdominal “issues” for the last week. The pain accelerated in Wednesday’s five-set quarterfinal win over American Taylor Fritz.

Nadal, who expects to miss three or four weeks (but start hitting balls next week), withdrew because playing further could make the injury worse and because, in his current state, he did not think he could win two matches to claim a third Wimbledon title.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, The Dubai Racing Cub announced today that the UAE’s flagship racecourse, Meydan, will commence its 2022/2023 season on Friday, 4th November with the first of 21 fixtures.

The events at Meydan Racecourse will culminate in the 2023 edition of the US$30.5million Dubai World Cup meeting, one of the world’s biggest horse racing tournaments, set to be held on Saturday, 25th March.

Commenting on the announcement, Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Racing Club, thanked H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court and Chairman of the Emirates Racing Authority, for the support he has extended to Dubai Racing Cub’s initiatives.

“We are delighted to announce an enhanced programme for the 2022/23 racing season in Meydan,” said Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook. “We thank H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed and the ERA team for their support, which has enabled us to enrich the fixture list and create a dynamic new programme that offers greater opportunities for international horses to compete here during the Carnival.

“We are also grateful for the support of our local horsemen and women, as well as our loyal racegoers, and look forward to welcoming them back to our iconic Meydan Racecourse for the first of our ‘Racing In Dubai’ meetings on 4th November.”

“Dubai continues to introduce initiatives to boost the sector and revitalise the global community of horse owners, trainers and other equestrian professionals. With its deeply-rooted traditions in horse riding, racing, breeding and various equestrian activities, Dubai also continues to be focal point for the global equestrian fraternity,” he added.

The build-up to the Dubai World Cup meeting will begin as early as November, when Meydan Racecourse begins its new season. The 20th edition of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, which brings together horses, trainers and jockeys from all over the world, gets underway on Friday, 6th January.

An enhanced Carnival programme, with prizemoney totaling more than US$7.5million, will take place at Meydan Racecourse between January and March, culminating in ‘Super Saturday’ – the official dress rehearsal for the Dubai World Cup – on 4th March.

Established in 2004, the 2023 Carnival will feature several new races, including the US$150,000 Thunder Snow Challenge, over 2000 metres on dirt. Another addition is the US$150,000 Ipi Tombe Stakes, for fillies and mares on turf over 1,400 metres, which honours the Zimbabwe-bred mare who won the Dubai Duty Free tournament in 2003.

In total, there are 21 Group races for Thoroughbreds. Purebred Arabians have their share of the action, too, with a new race, the UAE Arabian Sprint Championship. The rest of the Arabian races have Group status, including three Group 1 legs of the Maktoum Challenge series.

The 2023 Carnival will provide ample opportunities for handicappers, with 20 handicaps, divided between dirt and turf, complementing the pattern races and worth a minimum of US$75,000 each. Meanwhile, the Jumeirah Turf Series for three-year-olds returns for a second season. Last year’s Jumeirah Derby winner, Nations Pride, went on to run in the G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of Emirates Racing Authority (ERA), has endorsed the fixture list of the UAE racing season 2022-2023.

“We are happy to announce the 2022-2023 racing programme, which provides trainers, owners and racing fans with a fine programme scheduled across the five racecourses in the UAE. The season offers local and international races for Thoroughbred and Arabian horses, and we hope and look forward to a great season starting Friday, 28th October,” said Sheikh Mansour.

Sheikh Mansour added, “Last season was immensely successful and witnessed change at numerous levels and we will continue in our endeavour to provide the best to everyone involved: owners, jockeys, trainers, fans. We look forward to welcoming the entire racing community and we hope to have another great season and put on another great show for everyone.”

Concluding his remarks, Sheikh Mansour extended thanks to Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, the Vice-Chairman of the Emirates Racing Authority, the ERA’s Board of Directors and teams as well as race clubs and sponsors that step forward to wholeheartedly support the sport.

The UAE 2022-2023 racing campaign includes a total of 68 meetings spread out across five venues, starting with the opening fixture at Al Ain Racecourse on 28th October, 2022.

That first weekend of racing will also witness Jebel Ali Racecourse hosting the first of its 11 meetings on Saturday, October 29, and Sharjah Racecourse opening its doors for the first time the following day, Sunday, 30th October.

Racing at Meydan Racecourse begins the following week on Friday, November 4, while Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club Racecourse kicks off its season a week- later with the first of its 15 assignments on Thursday, 10th November.

Ain Racecourse has been scheduled to host a total of 14 meetings, with Jebel Ali Racecourse assigned 11 overall and six days of racing to grace the Sharjah Racecourse.

The Dubai World Cup next year on 25th March and for the first time in its history, will fall during the month of Ramadan.

Al Ain hosts not just the opening meeting of the 2022-2023 season but will also bring the curtains down on the campaign on March 31, 2023, a day after Abu Dhabi hosts the season’s penultimate meeting.

Source: Emirates News Agency

GENEVA, The UAE won the Grand Prix of the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland, yesterday.

The Emirati squad had strength in numbers in the final with Diego Ulissi and Matteo Trentin covering moves before Marc Hirschi infiltrated the winning break which slipped away at 7km to go.

The 23-year old hit out early from the four man group to open up the sprint at 250m to go to hold off Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) who finished on the podium.

“It was really very difficult”, said Marc Hirsch. “The final was very eventful, because a rider from AG2R Citroën has long been in the lead. In the last climb, it went very quickly behind him, but I was able to accompany in force. Then I was able to close the gap with three guys who had escaped. It was very hard”. In the end, it was a group of 7 which formed 6 terminals from the line, and the winner of the Fleche Wallonne 2020 maneuvered well to finish in the sprint.

In raising the trophy he becomes the first home winner of the race since 2013.

This result marks Hirschi’s second win of the season after storming to victory at the Per Sempre Alfredo classic in April.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, OmegaPro is launching the very first edition of The OmegaPro Legends Cup, in cooperation with Dubai Sports Council, this Thursday, 12th May, in Armani Hotel, Dubai Downtown, right under Burj Khalifa.

As many as 22 of football’s biggest legends of all time with the likes of Kaká, Ronaldinho, Iker Casillas, John Terry, Luis Figo, Wesley Sneijder and more will be competing in this Dream Match that promises to be a Clash of Titans.

A press conference is scheduled to kick-off in style after unveiling the awe-inspiring cup made of pure gold.

Bringing glitz and glam to this momentous occasion will be a sashay of the biggest Internet heart-throbs in celebrities and influencers, with the likes of Bollywood Superstars Suniel Shetty and Sonu Sood; Former Indian Cricketers and OmegaPro Brand Ambassador Suresh Raina; Emirati Youtuber Khalid Al Ameri; Reigning Miss Universe Harnaaz Kaur; Turkish TikTok Artist Ayda; Lebanese Celebrity Entrepreneur Joelle Mardinian; and many more bright sparks of the viral social media landscape.

Acting as the kick-off whistle for the match will be a countdown projection on The Burj Khalifa, yet another first in this evening of many firsts.

“We absolutely cannot wait to see what levels of magnificence and excellence OmegaPro Legends Cup has in store for us”, said OmegaPro’s CEO Andreas Szakacs, as the countdown for the Cup begins this week.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ALAIN, A student team from the College of Engineering at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) won the 4th annual industrial robots competition organised by the Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), as part of a challenge between students of universities and higher education institutions in the country to design and build industrial robots for use in the EGA aluminum smelters.

This year, the team faced the challenge to develop a robot capable of cleaning silt and mud in aeration areas at the EGA’s Al Taweelah site. It aerates the used seawater before returning it to the sea, which increases the percentage of oxygen to protect the marine environment.

Dr. Salem Shames Mohamed Al Zahmi – Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the College of Engineering said: ”Enriching the culture of innovation and enhancing the university’s role in community participation by developing local partnerships to support the transfer of knowledge and skills to serve the community is one of the UAEU strategic goals. From this standpoint, the College of Engineering has keenly supported the team with all technical capabilities and administrative facilities, which reflected positively on the team’s spirits and achievements. We invite and urge our students to participate in local and international competitions to acquire technical skills.” The supervisor of the winning team, Dr. Waleed Ahmed, said: ”This year’s challenge is one of the most difficult industrial challenges presented by EGA, which requires innovative revolutionary solutions. A prototype robot was designed, implemented, and tested successfully and will be developed in cooperation with the EGA technology development team, for long-term use in the company’s operations. The team remarkably offered innovative, practical, and sustainable solutions that solve first-time industrial problems. The team was praised by the company’s official management.” The team included the students: Nasmah Baalfaqih, Aamna Ali Alshehhi, Rashfa Baalfaqih, Huda Al Khawaja, Lobna Shaikhoun and Engineer Muthanna Aziz, who presented the prototype of a solar-powered robot for long-term use in EGA’s operations.

This competition, organised by EGA, aims to enable young people to apply their academic learning in the real world, and develop the skills of the Fourth Industrial Revolution required for the UAE’s industrial future, and achieve the goals of the “300 billion project”.

Source: Emirates News Agency