ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016 44

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E friday — (all times are kuwait local)07:00 syria vs korea republic/soccer .......... bein sports 2hd08:00 chile vs bolivia/soccer ...................... bein sports 2hd09:15 gutierres vs melendez/boxing ........... bein sports 5hd10:00 peru vs ecuador/soccer ...................... bein sports 2hd11:00 nigeria vs tanzania/soccer ................. bein sports 4hd13:00 rangers vs mariners/baseball .......... bein sports 13hd15:00 sudan vs gabon/soccer ..................... bein sports 6hd16:45 thailand vs japan/soccer ................... bein sports 4hd

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KUNA photoParalympic delegation carrying Kuwait’s fl ag during the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games on Sept 8, in Brazil.

Rio opens Games for ‘superhumans’

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 8, (Agencies): Rio de Janeiro opened the Paralympic Games on Wednesday with samba, parading wheel-chairs, giant balloons — and loud booing of Brazil’s presi-dent — at a sold-out Maracana stadium.

The extraordinary sight of US Paralympian Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham jumping in his wheel-chair from a 55-foot (17-meter) ramp got the crowd on its feet. Then the joyous rhythms of samba singers and a carnivalesque reproduction of a Rio beach scene got them dancing.

A sultry dance between an industrial robot and Amy Purdy, a US Paralympian and model wearing running blades, pro-vided another eye-catching moment.

Brazil’s tensions also flared with thou-sands in the crowd chanting “Out with Temer!” as newly sworn-in President Michel Temer appeared at the ceremony just days after taking over from his bitter rival, the impeached Dilma Rousseff.

Temer’s hurried declaration of “I declare the Games open” was met with a roar of boos, and booing also forced Brazilian Olympics boss Carlos Nuzman to pause his speech after mentioning “thanks to the federal, state and munici-pal governments.”

Coming right after a vibrant but some-times tricky Olympics, the Paralympics present one more challenge for Rio in a period of deep recession and political instability.

the first absence of an IOC chief since the 1984 Summer Games.

Bach is due at a mourning ceremony in Berlin for the late West German president Walter Scheel.

However, there have been suggestions that the no-show had more to do with divisions over the Paralympic commit-tee’s outright ban on Russian athletes after allegations of a state-sanctioned doping program and the IOC’s softer line,

which allowed some Russians to com-pete.

Globo and other Brazilian media out-lets also printed reports that Bach is wanted for questioning by local police investigating an illegal ticket-selling ring allegedly involving a senior Irish Olympic official.

Rio police were to give a news confer-ence on the matter Thursday.

Russian para-athletes, who finished second behind China in the London 2012 medals table, were barred last month fol-lowing a World Anti-Doping Agency report that alleged a vast state-sponsored doping program.

Separately, UK Athletics will review classifications after the Games, according to BBC News, following concerns that athletes were being mismatched to create an unfair advantage.

Constrained by political and economic crises, Rio 2016 organizers have skimped as far as they could on food, transport and accommodation.

Slow ticket sales also overshadowed the run-up to the Games, which followed

concerns about half-empty stadiums at many of the Olympics events.

But organizers have reported a dra-matic turnaround in the last few days.

“Two weeks ago we were at 200,000” tickets sold, Craven said. Now sales have reached 1.6 million and are “growing every day.”= “We’ll soon be over the 1.7 million mark,” he said. “Our aim is to sell around 2.4 million.”

Six countries are sending athletes for the very first time, and Syrian swimmer Ibrahim Al-Hussein — who lost a leg in an explosion in his nation’s civil war — together with Iranian discus thrower Shahrad Nasajpour make up a two-strong refugee team.

Although the record of 41 career gold medals won by blind American swimmer Trischa Zorn between 1980 and 2004 looks unbeatable, the Paralympics will inevitably produce new stars.

Iran’s 28-year-old powerlifter Siamand Rahman, disabled since birth, is aiming to become the first Paralympian to bench press 300kg. Others to watch include Britain’s wheelchair racer David Weir and China’s blind sprinter Liu Cuiqing.

China will have its biggest-ever team of 308 athletes in Rio looking to beat their 95 gold medals from London, where they topped the table for the third-straight Paralympics.

They have swimmer Xu Qing compet-ing in his fourth and possibly last Games, seeking to add to his seven gold medals.

The Paralympic Games already has its first political protest, right at the begin-ning with the opening ceremony.

A Belarusian sports ministry employee who marched in with a Russian flag on Wednesday has been booted out of the games.

Belarusian booted from Para for carrying Russian flag Qatari disputes accusation

FIFA confirms transfer banon Real & Atletico MadridZURICH, Sept 8, (AFP): FIFA on Thursday dismissed appeals by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid against a ban on registering new players in the next two transfer windows for irregularities in the signing of foreign players under 18.

Real and Atletico -- last season’s Champions League finalists -- were also fined 360,000 ($358,000) and 900,000 Swiss Francs respectively.

However, the Spanish giants still have a final right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“The FIFA Appeal Committee has decided to reject the appeals lodged by Spanish clubs Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid and to confirm in their entirety the decisions rendered by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in the respective cases relating to the protection of minors,” FIFA said in a statement.

Both clubs were sanctioned in January, but by appealing had temporarily held off the ban during the transfer window which closed last month.

They will now not be able to register any new players in either of the next two windows, in January 2017 and July-August 2017.

European champions Real responded by saying they will now go to the CAS in an attempt to have the decision over-turned “as quickly as possible”.

“The club regrets the decision on the ground that it is profoundly unfair and contrary to the most elementary princi-ples of penal law,” read a statement post-

ed on their website.“The club will begin the appropriate

appeals procedure before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, requesting that the decision be completely overturned, with absolute confidence that said organisa-tion will come to an entirely favourable decision.

“Real Madrid C. F. will request that the procedure be undertaken in an urgent manner in order to obtain a decision from the CAS as quickly as possible.”

A senior Qatari official facing a possi-ble two-and-a-half-year ban following a recent FIFA investigation said he hopes a “full and fair” review of his case will exonerate him.

The ban against Saoud Al-Mohannadi was recommended in August by FIFA’s ethics commission which said that the Qatar Football Association (QFA) vice-president had refused to cooperate with an inquiry. Although FIFA has not said what was the subject of the inquiry, it is not connected with the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar will host.

However Mohannadi has disputed FIFA’s claim in his first statement since the commission’s recommendation.

“I am confident that a full and fair review of the matter will confirm that I have co-operated extensively and can-didly... with the Ethics Committee to the best of my ability,” he said in a statement posted on the QFA website.

Adding to the intrigue surrounding Mohannadi, he is also a candidate for upcoming elections to FIFA’s ruling council after being passed as eligible to stand by football’s governing body.

The vote, for the two Asian spots on the council, will take place later this month. Mohannadi added that he was “disappointed” with the commission’s recommendation, and would continue to run for election.

“The experience of this campaign, along with the endorsements I have received, leaves me more convinced than ever of the value I have to offer after a long and successful career in football administration,” he said.

He has the backing of the QFA, which previously took aim at FIFA, saying the commission’s findings were published before Mohannadi had viewed the report.

FIFA has also recommended that the Qatari be fined 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,400, 18,600 euros).

The recommendation by the ethics commission’s investigators will be decid-ed by FIFA’s adjudicatory chamber.

FIFA’s ethics committee has recom-mended former German FA secretary gen-eral Helmut Sandrock be fined 50,000 Swiss francs (45,800 euros, $51,700) fol-lowing an investigation into the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany, world football’s governing body said Thursday.

Participants react under fi reworks during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Sept 7. (AFP)

Brazilian swimmer Clodoaldo Silva holds the Paralympic torch after lighting the Paralympic cauldron dur-ing the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Ma-racana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on

Sept 7. (AFP)

But “Brazilians never give up,” Nuzman said, telling the athletes: “You are superhumans.”

Blind, missing limbs, or partially para-lyzed, more than 4,300 of the world’s toughest and most competitive disabled paraded ahead of 11 days of contests. Some pushed their own wheelchairs, oth-ers were pushed, while others limped.

Even a sudden downpour accompanied by thunder could not dampen the cheers greeting the severely disabled torch bear-ers who closed the show by carrying the Olympic flame to light the cauldron.

However, controversy hung over the no-show by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach —

PARALYMPICS