The Al Ahli manager praised his players for his third Manager of the Year award in four seasons at the Arabian Gulf League Awards ceremony on Monday.
Triple title
The Romanian led his club to three titles – the Arabian Gulf Super Cup, the Emirati-Morocco Super Cup and the Arabian Gulf Cup – and a third-place finish in the Arabian Gulf League to earn them a play-off spot in the 2018 Asian Champions League.
Players did the work
Olaroiu edged out Henk ten Cate, who led Al Jazira to the AGL title with a record number of wins (22), and the Argentine Rodolfo Arruabarrena of league runners-up Al Wasl.
“I get this award because of my players,” Olaroiu said. “I think I train the best players and it’s their performances on the pitch that I get rewarded. So, I don’t get any reward if they don’t perform.”
On finishing third in the AGL
“I think it was a pretty good performance as we had a lot of problems in the team. We had quite a few injuries to some of the key players and we also had a lot of local players in the national team.”
On his future at the club
“This is a question has been asked me at the end of every season,” Olaroiu said. “I have another year left at Ahli. Until now my mind, energy and focus is with the Ahli team. So, I don’t have to talk about this anymore. We have two games in the Asian Champions League coming up against [Saudi Arabian side] Al Ahli.”
Chances against Ahli?
“It is a tough away game for us first,” Olaroiu said. “We must play in front of around 85,000 crowd, and they are a hard team to beat. But we’ll do our best to return with a good result.”
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A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
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Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
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Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
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Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
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Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
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Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
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Maestro
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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What’s the draw in Asia?
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Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
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Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
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Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
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Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
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