Abullah Sultan Al Aryani, the UAE’s main medal hope, exited the Paris Paralympic Games after being eliminated in the qualifying round of the mixed 50 rifle prone SH1 at Chateauroux on Thursday.
Appearing in the last of the three shooting competitions, Al Aryani finished 25th with an average score of 615.2 in the qualifier while his teammate Saif Al Nuaimi (617.4) finished eight places above him at 17th. Only the top eight qualified for the final.
Al Aryani, 54, is one of the most successful Paralympians, having won two golds in 2012 London and 2020 Tokyo, and three silver medals at 2016 Rio. However, his efforts proved unfruitful this time around.
He narrowly missed out on a place in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 in the first of the three competitions he participated in. Going into the next event, Al Aryani made it to the final in the 50m 3 positions, taking sixth spot.
On Friday, Mohammed Othman will be aiming to make it to the final for the second time when he competes in the 800m wheelchair T34 in heats that also include Thailand's Chaiwat Rattana, who won the 100m race in a Paralympic record time.
Othman, 20, is the youngest member of the 14-member UAE squad and finished sixth in the 100m event in his Paralympic debut.
Ahmed Al Bedwawi is the second Emirati in action on the day. He takes on 59 others in the C 4-5 road race. He wasn’t successful in the two track events earlier but will be hoping for a better outcome this time.
Earlier, South African duo Lucas Sithole and Donald Ramphadi secured Africa's first wheelchair tennis medal after clinching bronze in the quad doubles.
Following a tense tiebreak, Ramphadi and Sithole overcame Brazilians Leandro Pena and Ymanitu Silva 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the bronze medal match to take South Africa's medal tally to four.
Dutch duo Niels Vink and Sam Schroder won the gold medal match after defeating Britain's Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade 6-1, 6-1.
Ramphadi, 31, who developed brittle bone disease at 12, won the French Open doubles last year with Lapthorne and was a finalist in doubles at the last two editions of the Australian Open.
“This venue is something special. Last year I won my first Grand Slam here on my birthday, now I have a Paralympic bronze medal. For me, to be here and winning a medal is crazy – I am just going to enjoy the moment,” Ramphadi said.
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Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Golden Shoe top five (as of March 1):
Harry Kane, Tottenham, Premier League, 24 goals, 48 points
Edinson Cavani, PSG, Ligue 1, 24 goals, 48 points
Ciro Immobile, Lazio, Serie A, 23 goals, 46 points
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Premier League, 23 goals, 46 points
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, La Liga, 22 goals, 44 points
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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