Kuwait U-17 team heads to Serbia for training camp
The camp will feature several friendly matches designed to evaluate the players' readiness ahead of future tournaments.
Meanwhile, the Olympic team has wrapped up its training camp in Cairo, Egypt, where it played a series of friendly matches. The camp was part of the team's preparations for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers, which are set to take place in Saudi Arabia in January. Kuwait will compete in Group B, alongside Japan, Afghanistan, and host nation Myanmar, with matches scheduled from September 1 to 9.
In a related development, the junior team continues its daily training sessions in the Czech Republic, where it is also holding a preparatory camp for upcoming engagements.
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Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Indian football ‘hurt, scared' as domestic game hits fresh low
ISL in danger of collapsing over dispute between federation and its partner NEW DELHI: Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter once called India a 'sleeping giant' of football, but the sport is mired in fresh crisis in the country and faces problems from the top down to grassroots. The men's national team are without a coach and the Indian Super League (ISL) - India's top competition - is in danger of collapsing over a dispute between the federation and its commercial partner. 'Everybody in the Indian football ecosystem is worried, hurt, scared about the uncertainty we are faced with,' Sunil Chhetri, the celebrated veteran striker, wrote on X about the fate of the ISL. The former national skipper unwittingly summed up one of the issues facing Indian football when he came out of international retirement in March aged 40. The striker has 95 goals for his country and is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (138), Lionel Messi (112) and Ali Daei (108) in the all-time international scoring charts. His best days are well behind him, but with no younger replacements coming through he returned to the national side. India's men are 133rd in the FIFA rankings - their lowest placing in nearly a decade - and have won just one of their last 16 matches. They have never reached the World Cup and Spaniard Manolo Marquez stepped down this month as head coach after just one year and one win in eight games. His last act was to oversee a 1-0 defeat in Asian Cup qualifying to Hong Kong, population 7.5 million to India's 1.4 billion. The ISL is usually played between September and April. But a rights agreement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the company which runs the ISL, ends on December 8 and is yet to be renewed. The league is now paralyzed ahead of the new campaign and the uncertainty has affected over 5,000 players, coaches, staff and others. National football team director and former captain Subrata Paul is confident the sport in India - a country obsessed with cricket - will come out stronger. 'Indian football, like any growing ecosystem, will face its share of challenges and transitions,' Paul, regarded as one of India's best-ever goalkeepers, told AFP. 'I see this as a time to pause, reflect and refocus. Yes, the recent results and the uncertainty around the ISL are difficult for all of us who love the game, but I see a silver lining as well. 'It's an opportunity to strengthen our foundation by investing in youth development, infrastructure and quality coaching.' The franchise-based ISL started in 2014 as a league that brought global stars including Italy's Alessandro Del Piero to India, and aimed to promote the game in a new avatar. Bur rather than boom, the ISL has seen dwindling TV ratings and falling sponsor interest. Football's global bosses have long been keen to tap the potential that India has as the world's most populous country. Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA's chief of global football development, visited in 2023 to inaugurate an academy. AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey - who is also a politician with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party - last month met Wenger, who has backed India's football development, particularly at grassroots level. Chaubey said Wenger believes starting football at 13 years of age, as is the norm in India, is too late. Players should start by eight, he said. While India have never reached the World Cup and again will be absent in North America next year, there has been modest success in the distant past. India qualified for the Olympics four times between 1948 and 1960. At the 1956 Melbourne Games India came fourth after losing the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria. Blatter in 2007 called India a 'sleeping giant' - but it remains in a deep slumber. Football is a distant third in popularity in India after cricket and hockey, with the eastern city of Kolkata and the southern state of Kerala hotspots for the sport. Compounding that, there has long been mismanagement by Indian football chiefs, said veteran sports journalist Jaydeep Basu. 'The fact that the team which was ranked 99 in September 2023 has come down to 133 basically shows poor management,' Basu told AFP. 'There is a caucus working in the AIFF of two or three people who are running the show for their own benefit,' added Basu, who recently authored a book, 'Who stole my football?' — AFP
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Chepngetich books world championships slot with upset win
NAIROBI: Kenya's Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Beatrice Chebet (left), Kenya's Agnes Jebet Ngetich (center) and Kenya's Janeth Chepngetich (right) celebrate after qualifying in the women's 1,0000m event of the Kenya trials for Tokyo 2025 world championships at the Ulinzi Sport Complex in Nairobi on July 22, 2025. - AFP NAIROBI: Janeth Chepngetich on Tuesday stunned a strong field at the Kenyan trials to claim the women's 10,000m title and earn a maiden appearance at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The 26-year-old held off challenges from two world record holders, Agnes Jebet Ngetich and Beatrice Chebet. Janeth Chepngetich is no relation to women's marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich, whose provisional suspension for doping earlier this month has cast a shadow over Kenya's preparations for Tokyo. 'I had set a strategy from the beginning. I wanted to control the pace and offer a chance to my competitors (to see if they would mount a challenge),' Chepngetich told reporters. 'But in the end I managed to nail the victory.' Chepngetich won in a time of time of 30min 27.02sec as she made up for narrowly missing out on qualification for the Paris Olympics last year when she finished fourth in the trials. Chebet, who also set a new world record for the women's 5,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene two weeks ago, was happy with her third place which guaranteed her a third World Championships appearance. Ngetich is a world record holder in the 10km road run. In the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase, Olympic bronze medalist Faith Cherotich was back to her winning ways after losing to Bahraini rival Winfred Yavi in Eugene. The 21-year-old won in 9:09.44, well ahead of second-placed Doris Lemngole (9:24:69) with Caren Chebet in third with 9:34.91. In the men's steeplechase, world under-20 champion Edmund Serem atoned for his elder brother Amos Serem's absence through injury when he won the race in 8:38.91. 'It was a difficult moment for me knowing that brother Amos would have also taken part in these trials. But winning here today is a consolation for him too. I am going to Tokyo to win a medal for him,' said Serem. The 2023 Diamond League winner Simon Kiprop Koech was second in 8:39.97, while the world and Olympic bronze medalist Abraham Kibiwott was third. Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech, the 18-year-old who is a rising star in the 1,500m pulled out of his race with fatigue as he had only just returned from London where he beat Britain's reigning world champion Josh Kerr in the Diamond League meet. Koech will still be included in the Tokyo squad, but the 1,500m of Tuesday was won by Reynold Cheruiyot in a slow time of 3:48.86, with 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot taking second spot in 3:49.07, and Brian Komen just behind. – AFP
Arab Times
3 days ago
- Arab Times
Liverpool signs Egyptian youngster Karim Ahmed to first pro deal
LONDON, July 23: Liverpool, the reigning Premier League champions, announced yesterday on their official website that Egyptian youngster Karim Ahmed has signed his first professional contract with the club. Ahmed, who joined the club's academy at the age of six, made an instant impression when he scored on his debut for the U-18 side in an FA Youth Cup clash against Bournemouth in December 2022. A versatile player capable of operating as a forward or an attacking midfielder, Ahmed is praised for his creativity and ability to unlock defenses. Last season, he enjoyed a strong campaign with the U-18s, recording seven goals and five assists, and also appeared in UEFA Youth League matches against Bologna and RB Leipzig. Looking ahead, Ahmed will step up to Liverpool's U-21 squad for the 2025–26 season under the guidance of newly appointed head coach Rob Page, continuing his development within the club's youth structure.
