NAIROBI // Kenya's Olympic 800 metres champion David Rudisha suffered his first loss on home soil as a senior runner, but his second place at the Kenyan trials on Saturday was enough to make the team for the world championships in Beijing this month.
Rudisha, the world record holder over 800m, was powered past at the 600m mark by 25-year-old Ferguson Rotich, a late comer to the sport, who only started training seriously in 2013.
"I am shocked by the defeat but I am happy to have made the team," said Rudisha, who put the loss down to a lack of fitness.
Rotich's race-winning time of 1:43.60 was close to his personal best, but some way off Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record, set at the 2012 London Olympics.
Rudisha, 26, won the 800m world title Daegu in 2011 but missed the 2013 Moscow world championships due to injury.
"I have not done enough speed work, though I am 90 percent fit with no injury at the moment. I have three weeks to fix it," Rudisha told reporters in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Basking in the adulation of the crowd who had grown accustomed to "King David" trouncing the opposition, Rotich said: "I am happy to make the team for Beijing. Beating Rudisha is a plus for me."
The other major shock of the day involved Kenya's Olympic and world steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi, who finished fourth but will make the Beijing team by virtue of being the defending champion.
Kemboi ended behind Jairus Birech, who won in 8:19.55 ahead of world silver medallist Conseslus Kipruto (8:22.95) and former world and Olympic champion Brimin Kipruto (8:22.95).
"I am not disappointed at all. I think we have a very strong team that can sweep all the medals in Beijing," said Kemboi, who will be bidding for his fourth world title.
World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop and women's 800m world title holder Eunice Sum, easily won their events to earn world championships places, as did Commonwealth champion and Kenya's best known Javelin thrower Julius Yego.
Kiprop, who came close to breaking the world record in Monaco in July when he stopped the clock in 3:26.69, won the 1,500m race in 3:34.03, while Silas Kiplagat was second in 3:34.44 and Elijah Manangoi third in 3:34.46.
In the women's 800m, Sum, still unbeaten this season, clocked 1:59.46 to pip the 2007 world champion Janeth Jepksogei.
Yego, who used Youtube to teach himself to throw javelin, won in 83.10m ahead of Alex Kiprotich (71.50m) and Nelson Yegon (70.34m) in the men's Javelin.
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Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
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START-UPS IN BATCH 4 OF SANABIL 500'S ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME
Saudi Arabia
Joy: Delivers car services with affordable prices
Karaz: Helps diabetics with gamification, IoT and real-time data
Medicarri: Medical marketplace that connects clinics with suppliers
Mod5r: Makes automated and recurring investments to grow wealth
Stuck: Live, on-demand language support to boost writing
Walzay: Helps in recruitment while reducing hiring time
UAE
Eighty6: Marketplace for restaurant and supplier procurements
FarmUnboxed: Helps digitise international food supply chain
NutriCal: Helps F&B businesses and governments with nutritional analysis
Wellxai: Provides insurance that enables and rewards user habits
Egypt
Amwal: A Shariah-compliant crowd-lending platform
Deben: Helps CFOs manage cash efficiently
Egab: Connects media outlets to journalists in hard-to-reach areas for exclusives
Neqabty: Digitises financial and medical services of labour unions
Oman
Monak: Provides financial inclusion and life services to migrants
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.5L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh129,999 (VX Luxury); from Dh149,999 (VX Black Gold)
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
