As was widely expected, South American teams dominated the knockout stages on the second day of the Footvolley World Cup in Dubai on Friday.
As many as five teams from South America made it through to the quarter-final line-up, all of which will be played Saturday.
On a busy day of action featuring 19 matches at The Walk, Jumeirah Beach Residence, the Brazilian duo of Fabio and Xande beat England's David Donkin and James Titley comfortably in the second round, 21-9.
Brazil, where the game originated in the 1960s, have traditionally dominated the sport and had five teams participating in the tournament.
The duo of Fabio and Xande will take on their countrymen, Tata and Piao, who comfortably beat the Dutch pair of Erick Drenth and Jordi.
European teams make up the rest of the quarter-final entries.
France's Ortega Patrick and Nicolas edged out Croatia's Ivan Maskic and Dikno Maras 21-14 in the second round and will now take on Italy's Paolo Mazzieri and Francesco Montanari, who beat Bolivia 21-11 at the same stage to advance.
The evening's most exciting game was between Paraguay duo of Victor and Oddi and the Portuguese side of Marcos Flores and Bruno Santos, with Victor and Oddi prevailing 23-21 to reach the quarter-finals against the other team from Paraguay, Jesus and Quicho.
The last eight line-up is completed by Argentina and Spain; Argentina's Lisandro and Mariano beat the Norwegian team of Dag and Morten 23-13, and Spain's Samper Jara and Nacho defeated Italy.
Local interest in the tournament ended on the first day of the tournament on Thursday after the UAE pair of Jamal Saif and Mohammed Rashid lost all three of their group matches.
Saif was instrumental in bringing the tournament to the UAE.
The World Cup attracted 33 teams for the men's competition from 26 different countries.
It is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the Crown Prince of Dubai, and chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), and Dr Ahmad Al Sharif.
The sport, similar to the Thai sport of Sepak Traw but played on beaches with a bigger ball, is a combination of football and beach volleyball, with no hands allowed.
The game began among footballers at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach in 1965, since when it has grown in popularity around the globe.
Top Brazilian footballers such as Romario, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo play the game recreationally.
The tournament concludes Saturday with all matches up to the final to be played from 4pm onwards.
@ For more on UAE SPORTS, visit thenational.ae/topics
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
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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.”
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Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
20 Lance Stroll (Williams)
