Kuwait’s Olympians greeted in Kuwaiti style

Nihonmatsu thankful for 2011 quake help

TOKYO, July 18, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Olympians staying in the Japanese city of Nihonmatsu received a warm welcome from locals in the surprising Kuwaiti style that would make them feel at home.

Upon their arrival, a group of people from the Nihonmatsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry greeted Kuwait’s delegation near their hotel with a large banner reading in the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic, “We are with you. Go for it. Welcome here,” Vice-President Hideharu Ohta of the chamber told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Sunday.

“We hoped to extend our welcome to the athletes of Kuwait, which offered us tremendous support in response to the earthquake. As physical contact with them is prohibited due to COVID-19 concerns, we arranged a support event in this way while maintaining social distancing,” Ohta said.

“We sincerely wish that the Kuwaiti Olympians will fully restore their energies here, which is rich with lush greenery, and that they will produce outstanding results in the upcoming games,” he added. The heartwarming banner is now displayed at the hotel’s entrance to encourage the athletes before and after their training.

In appreciation for Kuwait’s support following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Nihonmatsu City, located about 200 km northeast of Tokyo, has applied to host the Kuwaiti team for a pre-games training camp.

At least 10 top Kuwaiti athletes are partaking in the Tokyo Games due between July 23 and August 8.

Lara Dashti and Abbas Qali will compete in swimming, Abdulrahman Al-Fadhel in rowing and Mohammad Al-Musawi in Karate. The other contenders are the shooters Abdulrahman Al-Faihan, Mansour Al-Rashidi, Abdullah Turgi Al-Rashidi and Talal Turgi Al-Rashidi. In the field-and-track, the participating Kuwaiti champions are Yaaqoub Al-Yoha and Madhawi Al-Shemmari.

An online seminar aiming at familiarizing the local residents with Kuwait was held earlier this month, in which KUNA representative in Japan Miyoko Ishigami presented a one-hour lecture about the Kuwaiti life and culture.

In this photo taken with low shutter speed, Muslim pilgrims circumambulate the Ka’aba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, as they wear masks and keep social distancing, a day before the annual Hajj pilgrimage, July 17. The pilgrimage to Makkah required once in a lifetime of every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to make it, used to draw more than 2 million people. But for a second straight year it has been curtailed due to the coronavirus with only vaccinated people in Saudi Arabia able to participate. (AP)

KUNA photo Kuwaiti Olympic shooting team being greeted by locals from the Japanese city of Nihonmatsu.