Qatar's midfielder Mohammed Abdulraab Alyazidi, right, reacts after missing the chance to score as Japan's goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki lies on the grass.
Qatar's midfielder Mohammed Abdulraab Alyazidi, right, reacts after missing the chance to score as Japan's goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki lies on the grass.
Qatar's midfielder Mohammed Abdulraab Alyazidi, right, reacts after missing the chance to score as Japan's goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki lies on the grass.
Qatar's midfielder Mohammed Abdulraab Alyazidi, right, reacts after missing the chance to score as Japan's goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki lies on the grass.

Sport

Albinali's own goal buries Qatar dream

Japan end Qatar's faint hopes of a place at the 2010 World Cup with a 1-1 home draw in an Asian qualifier.

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Japan ended Qatar's faint hopes of a place at the 2010 World Cup with a 1-1 home draw in an Asian qualifier yesterday. The Japanese had booked a spot in the South Africa tournament by beating Uzbekistan 1-0 away last weekend. Qatar needed to win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time via a play-off spot. Japan went in front after just three minutes in Yokohama courtesy of an own goal from Ahmed Ali Albinali but the Qataris equalised through an Ali Yahya penalty in the 53rd minute.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada, banned from the bench for the match after a touchline outburst in Tashkent, apologised to the fans in a post-match ceremony. "I deeply apologise for failing to win," Okada said with a deep bow. "I didn't use the players correctly and we need to put it right for our last game against Australia [in Melbourne on June 17]." Japan playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura was similarly critical of the team's display.

"We wasted a lot of energy tonight by making things too difficult," the midfielder said. "We wore ourselves out and still have a lot of areas to improve on." Australia, meanwhile, maintained their unbeaten record in the final round of the qualifiers with a 2-0 win over Bahrain at the Olympic stadium yesterday. Midfielder Mile Sterjovski broke the deadlock when he scored in the 55th minute and left back David Carney sealed the Group One win with a goal in the 88th.

Bahrain are still in the hunt to reach their first World Cup but need a point from their last match against Uzbekistan next week to be absolutely sure of making the play-offs. Australia fielded a mostly second-string team having already secured their place at next year's World Cup when they held Qatar to a goalless draw in Doha at the weekend. After a slow start the home side took control of the match in the second half despite squandering a series of chances to win by a bigger margin.

"I think we created enough chances to score more than two goals," the Australia coach Pim Verbeek said. "We were probably not really sharp enough to finish it off." South Korea drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in their qualifier yesterday after the visitors lost Ahmed Ateef in the 80th minute following a second yellow card. South Korea qualified for their seventh consecutive World Cup finals on Saturday after beating the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in a Group Two qualifier.

* Reuters

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Burnley 0

Manchester United 2
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Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)

Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)

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Day 2

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School counsellors on mental well-being

Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.

Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.

Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.

“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.

“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.

“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.

“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”

Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.

The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.

At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.

“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.

“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.

"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”

MATCH INFO

Newcastle United 2 (Willems 25', Shelvey 88')

Manchester City 2 (Sterling 22', De Bruyne 82')

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  • Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
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  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
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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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