Tolly Plested has been UAE national team coach for only two months, but the Englishman is confident his athletes can put up a good showing in next week’s International Mixed Martial Art Federation Youth World Championships.
The four-day championship for girls and boys from 12-13, 14-15 and 16-17 has drawn more than 600 competitors from 46 countries for the event at the Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City starting on August 2.
The UAE is hosting the event for the second consecutive year as part of a three-year hosting rights agreement between IMMAF and the UAE Jiu-Jitsu and MMA Federation.
The host nation won a gold, silver and two bronzes on their debut last year and, with 40 entries, Plested is certain they will have more of their athletes winning a spot on the podium this time around.
Jesem Al Hosani will be among them, defending his 77-kilogramme title.
“I have been with the federation for just over two months and I’m enjoying the preparations for next week’s championships,” Plested told The National at the launch ceremony for the event on Wednesday.
“There are athletes from different parts of the country. We have brought them together for a camp and create a positive environment for them all to train together.”
According to Plested, the team have trained on individually under their coaches in their respective clubs and they are now finishing off their preparations with him putting the finishing touches to the team.
The host team went into last year’s competition with 28 athletes and the number has risen to 40 in their second appearance.
“I think it shows the progression and popularity of MMA here in the UAE and I’m enjoying seeing that growth,” Plested said.
Plested, 41, a former MMA professional fighter is no stranger to the UAE. He was head coach of both the UFC gym in the UAE and in the UK, and also coached at One FC, UAE Warriors and various promotions around the world for over 18 years.
The IMMAF president Kerrith Brown said they were really excited to return to Abu Dhabi with a record entry.
“It shows the growth among the youth globally and the development of the next generation of the athletes. They are not coming off any other martial arts but now directly into MMA, and we are very proud of that development,” he said.
Brigadier General Mohammed bin Dalmouj Al Dhaheri, chairman of the UAEMMA Federation, said the Youth World Championships is a showcase of the next generation of the MMA athletes.
“This championship provides and ideal platform for the world’s elite young MMA athletes a platform to showcase their skills and abilities to a global audience,” he said.
Student Of The Year 2
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The National in Davos
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
