ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2015

39SPORTS

Kicks and punches of full body workout

By Michelle Fe SantiagoArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: The GymTeam had a day of fun and power-packed routines as they celebratedthe birthday of one of its mentors, IdaPelaud, wife of the General Managerof Radisson Blu Hotel who is aknown fitness enthusiast. The grouphad a one and a half hour of tough butexciting workout at the Chai alDhaha Ballroom of the Radisson BluHotel with the five instructors in tow.

The morning kicked off with afloor cardio warm up led by its teamleader Ricky, followed by a powerpacked basic kickboxing workout byStella Munch of Al Mabroor Gym.Munch a veteran instructor whoexudes verve and enthusiasm to shareher knowledge and expertise led ahalf hour of kicks and punches of fullbody workout.

On the other hand, ZIN NymfaGasser of Champions Health Clubmarked her class with another halfhour of high energy Zumba routines.The crowd was in high spirits everyafter routine.

Two guest instructors wererequested to perform a routine eachnamely ZIN Janice Capili, a noted

choreographer, dancer and certifiedgroup and personal trainer led thegroup to an extended version of apopular Zumba song while the crowdasked for more as Lebanese fitnesstrainer and Zumba instructor ZINHelen Rahi took the reins. Rahi ledthe crowd to another remarkable rou-tine. The class concluded with a cooldown led by Ricky as everyone sangthe popular Filipino song “HawakKamay.”

“Today’s class was tough and par-ticipants were undeniably with fullof energy as they followed throughthe routines. The enthusiasm andpassion are just remarkable. As aninstructor, it inspires us to mentorbetter and encourages us to deliverour classes the way they will alwaysremember. Redundancy of instruc-tors on stage and routines not onlylimit the participants’ appreciation ofthe workout but does not allow themto grow and experience other fieldsof fitness,” disclosed Blanche Bravo,a member of the board of The GymTeam.

The event culminated with a birth-day song for the celebrant MrsPelaud. In response, she thankedeveryone for the warm greetings. TheGym Team also collaborates with

Gym Team marks birthday of mentor, spends power-packed routines

The Gym Team and participants pose for a group photo.

The Fitness Professionals and BodyBuilders Committee on its upcoming“Hiphop” Masterclass at the Failaka

Hall of The Radisson Blu Hotel onOctober 16. For details of the event,you may check the group’s Facebook

page. The Gym Team instructorsalso lead classes at the IndonesianEmbassy every Friday and have been

requested to open the MalaysianEmbassy Sports Day on the October10.

ZIN Janice Capili

Venus Williams of the US poses with her trophy after winning the women’s sin-gles final match against Garbine Muguruza of Spain at the Wuhan Open tennis

tournament in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province on Oct 3. (AFP)

Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez set up anall-Spanish affair in the final whilevolatile Australian Nick Kyrgios fellshort of reaching his second professionalfinal at the Malaysian Open on Saturday.

Ferrer recovered from a set down to over-come Benjamin Becker from Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in a 125-minute battle.

“I needed to be more aggressive on theforehand and that worked for me in thesecond and third game,” the world num-ber eight told reporters.

“I have only played once before thistournament, but my fitness was goodtoday and I hope to keep this consistencyon Sunday.”

Second seed Feliciano Lopez booked

a berth in the final by defeating Kyrgios7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5).

“The match was close and could havegone either way, but I’m proud of the wayI played. I needed to be aggressive and washappy that my volleys and serves workedout well,” said the 34-year-old Lopez.

Volatile Australian Nick Kyrgios fellshort of reaching his second professionalfinal but is eyeing a higher ranking as heseeks to put this season’s controversiesbehind.

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Sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat CaseyDellacqua of Australia 6-4, 6-0 Saturdayto advance to the second round of the

China Open.Ivanovic was broken twice in the first set,

but Dellacqua won less than half the pointson her own serve as the Serb wrapped up thevictory in little more than an hour.

Madison Keys of United States alsoadvanced by beating Kristina Mladenovicof France 7-5, 6-2, breaking her opponentfive times.

In other first-round matches, 12th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland,Wang Qiang of China, Teliana Pereira ofBrazil, and Svetlana Kuznetsova ofRussia all advanced.

Bacsinszky rallied to beat Camila Giorgiof Italy 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Wang oustedAmerican Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

ZIN Helen Rahi

Exhibition game

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in KuwaitKUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: PhilippineBasketball Team Rain or ShineElasto Painters will be in Kuwaitfrom Oct 4-7, 2015 to have an exhi-bition game with Kuwait ClubTeam on Oct 7, 2015 at the KuwaitSports Club in Keifan - at the backof Cosmos Bowling Center.

This game aims to promote bas-ketball here in Kuwait for all gen-erations to enjoy it.

Rain or Shine Elasto Paintersdebuted in the PhilippineBasketball League in 1996 underthe name Welcoat Paint Masters.Its first championship came in the1999 Challenge Cup, winning 3-0over Red Bull Energy Drink.

Welcoat was one of two teamsthat entered the PhilippineBasketball Association (PBA)before the 2000 season but it lost toRed Bull. Since then, the PaintMasters won five more champi-onships, fielding in the best ama-teur and former MetropolitanBasketball Association players.

In the 2013-2014 PBAPhilippine Cup, they finished theeliminations in 2nd place. Theybeat Global Port Batang Pier in thequarterfinals, beat Petron BlazeBoosters in 4-1 series win in thesemifinals and faced San MigSuper Coffee Mixers in the finals.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Club is the

reigning basketball champion inKuwait and seven of its playershave been drafted by KuwaitBasketball Federation to play in theNational Team.

Through careful planning, thisexhibition game was made possiblein preparation for the GulfChampionship in the Middle East.Kuwait Club Manager Bader AlOsaimi fully supports the game forit will strengthen the brotherhoodbetween members of the twoteams.

This exhibition game is broughtto you by Art Dimension Companyc/o Managing Director Nasser Ali,in cooperation with Filipino organ-izations - Musikerong Filipino inKuwait (Musik), Reformed andUnited Guardians BrotherhoodInternational Incorporated ofKuwait (RUGBII) and True andReformed Overseas PilipinoAssociation (TROPA).

It has been a long time since aPhilippine basketball team visitedKuwait and the time has come tosee the action in an exciting basket-ball game.

Everyone is invited to watch thegame between Rain or Shine ElastoPainters and Kuwait Club Team.For inquiries, please call22622691/51441239/98079249/50140901.

A photo of promo poster

Venus ‘clinches’ 47th careertitle on Muguruza retirement

Kyrgios out, Ferrer, Lopez in Malaysian showdown

WUHAN, China, Oct 3,(AFP): Venus Williams wonher biggest title in five yearsat the Wuhan Open onSaturday after GarbineMuguruza retired, makingher the fifth player to pullout mid-match in the late-season tournament.

Williams took the first set and wasthree games up in the second whenthe Spaniard stopped play at 53 min-utes, handing the American veteranthe 47th title win of her career, andher first victory at a WTA PremierFive event since she beat VictoriaAzarenka in 2010 in Dubai.

Wimbledon finalist Muguruza —ranked world number eight, 16 placesahead of American veteran Williams —had a tough semi-final against Germany’sAngelique Kerber, winning in straightsets but falling during the closing tiebreak and injuring her ankle.

But the 21-year-old said it was exhaus-tion not injury that made her pull out.

“It’s a sad day I had to retire. Sometimesyour body’s not recovered,” the 21-year-old said on court after the match.

Muguruza called her coach Sam Sumyk— who was wearing a t-shirt bearing thephrase “It’s not my fault” — on court dur-ing the first set but no words of advicecould change the slow pace of the match.

“I had my chances. But I knew withVenus, it’s hard with her serve, with hershots, if you’re not 100 percent,” theSpaniard said. Williams, who turned prothe year that Muguruza was born, wasalso struggling during the final with legpain and had both of her thighs wrapped.

But she said that experience gainedduring her more than two-decade longcareer allowed her to put the injury out ofher mind.

“By the time I’m on the court, I’veblocked it (pain) out if I’ve decided I’mgoing to play. At that point I’m in the matchand not anywhere else,” Williams said.

Williams had a gruelling semi-final theday before against her sister Serena’snemesis Roberta Vinci — who beatSerena in the US Open semi-final, deny-ing her a chance at the first calendarGrand Slam since 1988.

The title winner conceded that she wouldhave had a tough match against Muguruzaif her young opponent had been on form.

“I probably wouldn’t have had manychances if you (Muguruza) had been feelingwell,” Williams said in an on court interview.

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In Kuala Lumpur, top seeds David

Vekic loses

Habino ‘wins’Tashkent OpenTASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Oct 3,(AP): Nao Hibino of Japan cruisedpast Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-2Saturday to win the Tashkent Openfinal.

H i b i n o ’ sspeed on courtcaused prob-lems forVekic, whoalso appearedincreasinglyfrustrated bythe noisycrowd whichf r e q u e n t l yheld up play inthe capital of Uzbekistan.

The 21-year-old Hibino, ranked117th in the world, held servethroughout and took advantage ofnine double faults from Vekic tobreak her 19-year-old opponenttwice in each set.

Hibino’s only previous appear-ances in a WTA main draw camelast month, when she reached thesecond round at the Japan Women’sOpen and Dalian Open. After wrap-ping up the win over Vekic, Hibinoshook her head in disbelief andwaved to supporters.

Vekic, who is ranked 137th aftera disappointing season, drops to 1-3 in career WTA finals, with herlast win coming at the 2014Malaysian Open. It was her secondappearance in a Tashkent finalafter losing in 2012 to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania instraight sets.

FBC announces new officers

Lijo, Sandeesh bag FBC President Regine CupBy Michelle Fe Santiago

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: The Filipino

Badminton Committee in Kuwait(FBC) held on Friday a one-day funbadminton tournament dubbedPresident Regine Cup in honour of out-

going FBC President Regine Panesalwho will end her tenure soon with theelection of the new FBC officers.

The powerful duo Lijo and Sandeesbagged the championship cup. Trailingbehind them were Dennis Malay andJames Flores who emerged as first run-ner-up. They all received trophies andcash prizes.

Simultaneously on the same day, thenew FBC President, Jimmy Carandanglaunched the first tournament under hisleadership dubbed “FBC Officers Cup”which will be the 61st tournament ofthe Filipino Badminton Committeesince its establishment in 2007

Meanwhile, FBC Founder andChairman Dr Chie Umandapannounced the new set of FBCOrganizing Committee officers name-ly President: Jimmy Carandang;Director-Technical &Games: VeeSandig; Members/Court Managers:Eric Erick Torno, Russel Centeno,

Raymund Cruz, Michael Moral andEssam Meslamani; Consultant : Engr.Doy Viray; Director-Membership:Jules Francisco; Members: AnnieCenteno Zaballero, Shielyn Hassan,Janice, Jhonalyne Goronio andEduardo P. Gardose; Director forFinance: Lita Caballero; Member:Ailyn A Borcena; Director forCommunity and Social Services: SusanLibrada Reyes; Member: Elma, Monaand Louie; Director for Social MediaMarketing & Promotions: AmadorCaceres; Director for Program &Events:

Lowela Cayme; Members: ErmaMenor Carandang, Monrea, Liezl andCheryl Manaytay Meslmani.

All badminton enthusiasts, amateuror veteran players are enjoined to par-ticipate in the upcoming tournament.Those who are interested may contact97197268 or visit the FBC websitewww.fbckpi.com.A photo from the event

Hibino