Eight aspiring baseball players from India and Pakistan will join the ranks of professional teams when the sport has its first pro event in the UAE in November.
Four matches will take place from Friday, November 10, to Sunday, November 12, at the Dubai International Stadium as part of the Baseball United Dubai Showcase.
The opening match will pit Mumbai Cobras against Karachi Monarchs, in a fixture the organisers say is part of their mission for “baseball diplomacy”.
The two other sides in the competition were announced on Thursday and will represent cities in the host country: Abu Dhabi Falcons and Dubai Wolves.
The sides will draw their squads from a draft to be staged in September, and mainly comprise professional players from the US and other established baseball nations.
While Major League Baseball rosters usually have 26 players, the teams in Dubai will be condensed to 20 for the three-day competition – 13 position players and seven pitchers.
That will include 16 professional players, as well as four prospects each from closer to home.
Four will be from India, four from Pakistan, and eight “from other countries in the region,” according to Kash Shaikh, the chief executive and majority owner of Baseball United.
“Today, there are not too many players who could compete at the professional level,” Shaikh said.
“It is not that they don’t have tools and talent. The best pitcher in India throws at 91mph. He has a great career ahead of him. There are kids who can play here.
“We are starting with prospects, but our goal is to have as many people from the region playing [as possible] and not just in our league.
“There are a lot of other professional baseball leagues around the world – Latin America, East Asia. We want to develop kids. This a real opportunity.”
Shaikh and his fellow management team have grand plans for the sport in the region.
They have a 15-year agreement with Emirates Cricket Board to stage matches in the UAE.
While November’s opening event is just three days, they plan to extend to a three-weekend series in 2024, with eight franchises playing in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
The following year, they plan an additional competition in Saudi Arabia.
Thursday's launch event in Dubai Sports City was attended by former MLB stars Felix Hernandez, Adrian Beltre and Nick Swisher, who are all stakeholders in the competition.
Swisher, a former World Series champion with the New York Yankees, hopes to have a lasting impact, in particular by mentoring the aspiring players.
“All you can ask for is an opportunity,” said Swisher, who hit 245 home runs in his career in the MLB.
“We are able to give those 16 [prospects] an opportunity. I can’t wait to meet them and work with them, and put our hands on the final product.
“At the end of the day, maybe they go play in different part of the world, but come from Baseball United and be part of our family from the start.”
Music concerts are planned for each night of the tournament weekend in November, as the organisers seek to find ways to appeal to a region where baseball is far from being a traditional sport.
“I have been at this stadium when India have played Pakistan at the Asia Cup and it has been packed,” said Shaikh, who was born in Texas and has an Indian father and Pakistani mother.
“I have also been here for cricket matches where there weren’t very many people here.
“That is a massive challenge and a massive opportunity. The baseball fan is not the cricket fan.
“We feel we have a clear point of difference. If you look from a business- building standpoint, cricket is closer to the value end of that portfolio, and baseball is closer to the premium end.
“We have an opportunity for the ECB, Dubai Sports City, Dubai International Stadium, and this country, to grow and learn the whole spectrum of bat and ball.
“The other thing we have to do is make it much more exciting.”
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Kandahar%20
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New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
TOURNAMENT INFO
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Thursday results
UAE beat Kuwait by 86 runs
Qatar beat Bahrain by five wickets
Saudi Arabia beat Maldives by 35 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, third-place playoff – Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
3pm, final – UAE v Qatar
