The group phase of the Fiba Under 17 World Championship in Dubai shows that basketball talent is sprouting up across the globe, not just in the United States.
US (probably) invulnerable
In their first game, the Americans looked like they might reveal a crack in their armour.
They spent much of the game defending a lead that fluctuated between eight and 12 points, and if they had allowed a significant Greece run, things could have gotten dicey.
But they never did allow that offensive spurt and finished with a 10-point victory over the Greeks. They won the next game against Angola by 43.
In any international basketball competition, the Americans will be overwhelming favourites. Nothing that has happened so far in Dubai has changed that.
Talent can bloom anywhere
The five scoring leaders in the tournament hail from France, Argentina, China, Australia and Angola. Not an American to be found.
France’s 2.03-metre forward, Stephane Gombauld, looks like an elite player. He can get down the court quickly for a kid his size, has above-average leaping ability – as he has shown while dunking – and is comfortable handling the ball. He leads the tournament with 25.5 points per game.
Argentina’s Maximo Fjellerup, the second-leading scorer at 22 points per game, has good size (1.93m) for a shooting guard and has displayed an ability to snake to the basket as well as convert the three-point shot. He reminds fans of Italy’s NBA sharpshooter Marco Belinelli, not Argentina’s Manu Ginobili.
Other standouts include Dejan Vasiljevic (20.5 ppg), Australia’s 1.88m bulldog; China’s Zhao Yanhao (1.93m), who floats around the perimeter angling for a three and scored a tournament-high 31 points against Argentina; and Angola’s Joao Jungo, a 1.98m specimen whose leaping ability rivals anyone in the tournament.
Players such as Japan's Rui Hachimura, Puerto Rico's Arnaldo Toro and the Philippines' Jolo Mendoza have impressed, as well. While the US and European prospects usually get most of the NBA attention, the tournament underscores how talent is popping up around the globe.
Everyone a challenger
The four group leaders after two games are the US, Australia, Puerto Rico and Argentina. The Puerto Ricans have been the surprise team of the tournament, staking their claim to Group C with wins over traditional European powers Spain and Italy.
None of this truly matters, because group play only determines seeding for the round of 16, and every team qualifies.
After two games, Australia, Argentina, Serbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Greece, Spain, Italy and France look like possible title-game entrants. And even teams like Angola, China and the Philippines seem capable of an upset or two in the knockout rounds.
Mission accomplished
The results are grisly, there is no getting around that. The UAE have lost their two games by 200 combined points.
But coach Zoran Zupcevic said after their 89-point loss that they cannot "look at the scoreboard" to determine if this production is a success. It was, as he put it, "exposing the community to this level of basketball … because we need to move forward."
So far, the community has mostly been willing to be exposed. While the Philippines draw a massive crowd and the US played to a mostly full building, even games such as Australia-France and China-Argentina had a decent-sized crowd for what is ultimately comparable to a high school game.
As Zupcevic said: “We are somewhere almost there.”
jraymond@thenational.ae
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As he spoke, Mr Aboul Gheit repeatedly referred to the need to tackle issues affecting the welfare of people across the region both in terms of preventing conflict and in pushing development.
Lebanon is scheduled to host the fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in January that will see regional leaders gather to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East. The last such summit was held in 2013. Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki told The National that the Beirut Summit “will be an opportunity for Arab leaders to discuss solely economic and social issues, the conference will not focus on political concerns such as Palestine, Syria or Libya". He added that its slogan will be “the individual is at the heart of development”, adding that it will focus on all elements of human capital.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
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- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
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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.”
