UAE judokas Bishrelt Khorloodoi and Narmandakh Bayanmunkh bagged their nation's first two Asian Games medals of the 2023 event at the Xiaoshan Lynpo Gymnasium in Hangzhou on Sunday.
Khorloodoi secured silver in the women’s 52kg division while Bayanmunkh grabbed bronze in the men’s 66kg category on the opening day of the judo competition.
Khorloodoi, 25, lost to Uzbek Diyora Keldiyorova in the final via golden score after outclassing South Korean Yerin Jung in the semi-final.
The Mongolia-born judoka overcame Wongum Kim of North Korea and Maryam Maharani of Indonesia in the round-of-16 and quarter-final, respectively, both by ippon.
“I am very happy to win a silver medal for the UAE tonight,” Khorloodoi told The National. “It was very tough out there against every opponent. Obviously, the goal was to go for gold after reaching the final but I’m happy with the day’s work.”
Bayanmunkh, 23, got the better of Uzbek Sardor Nurillave in the bronze medal contest after reaching the medal round with victory over Kubanychbek Aibek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan by waza-ari in repechage.
Bayanmukh, who was also born in Mongolia, won his first contest against Surasak Puntanam of Thailand by ippon but went down via a golden score to Ryoma Tanaka of Japan in the quarter final.
If the point and number of penalties are the same, then a winner is decided by 'golden score', which is essentially sudden-death overtime. The clocks are reset, and the first person to score is declared the winner.
“They have both worked hard to win medals for us, and we would certainly be looking to build on it and take home a few more in the next three days of the competition,” Nasser Al Tamimi, general secretary of the UAE Wrestling and Judo Federation, told The National. “It’s never easy to win medals in top-flight competitions in judo and it’s credit to both Bishrelt and Narmandakh to have achieved that. It was a pretty good opening day for us.”
The UAE judokas will be aiming for more glory with six more athletes still to compete across the next three days.
Altantsetseg Batsukh will be in action on Monday in the women’s 57kg, while male teammates Karim Abdulvaev and Nugzari Tatalashvili will take part in the men’s 73kg and 81kg, respectively.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.
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Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
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