Kuwaiti rowing team come 2nd in GCC tournament - UAE, Qatar finish 1st and 3rd in quadruple competition

Winners, officials pose for a group photo during the awarding ceremony of the recently held First GCC Rowing Championship

DOHA, Nov 13, (KUNA): Kuwait’s rowing team ranked second in the quadruple competition at the end of the First GCC Rowing Championship, in open water, on Saturday in Doha, Qatar.

The Kuwaiti team included Abdulrahman Al-Safran, Mohammad Al-Rubayye, Abdulrahman Al-Fadhl, Mohammad Al-Sabti abd Ali Al-Failakawi. The UAE and Qatar’s teams have ranked the first and third respectively in the same competition.

In a statement to KUNA, the Secretary General of the Kuwait Sea Sport Club (KSSC), and head of the Sail, Rowing and Kayak Committee, Khaled Al-Foudery lauded the win of the second place in most competitions, stressing that the rowers were looking forward to snatching the first places in this event.

He stated that Kuwait’s rowing team was registered in the International Rowing Federation as the oldest team amongst GCC member states, indicating that the team pays for most tournaments held outside the country.

The club works on proving coastal rowing boats, along with the Olympic-size ones, to help rowers train on these boats so as to get ready for international, Arab and Gulf competitions, he said.

The 14th meeting of the Organizing Committee held on the sidelines of the First GCC Rowing Championship agreed that Qatar would host the Second GCC Rowing Championship next year, he added.

He noted that Kuwait would host the 9th GCC Sailing Championship next February, coinciding with the celebrations of the Independence of Kuwait and National Day, in collaboration with the Public Authority for Sport (PAS).

Meanwhile, Al-Sabti told KUNA that the team won a well-merited second place, indicating that it was a fierce competition with UAE’s team that finished the race 20 seconds ahead of the Kuwaitis.

Mohammad Al-Rubayye told KUNA that he won the second place in the doubles and quadruple competitions, extolling Qatar’s excellent organization of the first edition of the event.

The team is looking forward to achieving best results in the forthcoming tournaments to be held on Arab and international levels, he said.