• Players of India's Minerva Academy celebrating after winning the U12 Mina Cup final against La Liga HPC Academy on Monday, April 11, 2022 at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence in Dubai. All photos Pawan Singh / The National
    Players of India's Minerva Academy celebrating after winning the U12 Mina Cup final against La Liga HPC Academy on Monday, April 11, 2022 at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence in Dubai. All photos Pawan Singh / The National
  • Players in action during the U14 Mina Cup final match between Pumas Unam (white) and Manchester City Football Schools (black) at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.
    Players in action during the U14 Mina Cup final match between Pumas Unam (white) and Manchester City Football Schools (black) at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.
  • Supporters of Minerva Academy celebrate after seeing their team win the U12 Mina Cup final.
    Supporters of Minerva Academy celebrate after seeing their team win the U12 Mina Cup final.
  • A Minerva Academy player, left, shields the ball from a La Liga HPC player during the U12 Mina Cup final.
    A Minerva Academy player, left, shields the ball from a La Liga HPC player during the U12 Mina Cup final.
  • Player of Minerva Academy celebrate winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Minerva Academy celebrate winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
  • Player of Minerva Academy celebrate winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Minerva Academy celebrate winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
  • Minerva Academy (light blue) take on La Liga Academy.
    Minerva Academy (light blue) take on La Liga Academy.
  • A Minerva Academy player breaks through the La Liga Academy defence.
    A Minerva Academy player breaks through the La Liga Academy defence.
  • Pumas Unam (white) in action against the Manchester City Football Schools in the U14 Mina Cup final.
    Pumas Unam (white) in action against the Manchester City Football Schools in the U14 Mina Cup final.
  • Player of Pumas Unam celebrate after winning the U14 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Pumas Unam celebrate after winning the U14 Mina Cup final.
  • Player of Minerva Academy celebrate after winning the U12 Mina Cup final against La Liga HPC at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.
    Player of Minerva Academy celebrate after winning the U12 Mina Cup final against La Liga HPC at Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.
  • A La Liga Academy player, left, challenges a Minerva Academy player.
    A La Liga Academy player, left, challenges a Minerva Academy player.
  • Players of Minerva Academy (light blue) and La Liga Academy contest the ball.
    Players of Minerva Academy (light blue) and La Liga Academy contest the ball.
  • A Minerva Academy player, right, controls with the ball.
    A Minerva Academy player, right, controls with the ball.
  • Player of Minerva Academy celebrate after winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Minerva Academy celebrate after winning the U12 Mina Cup final.
  • Player of Pumas Unam celebrate winning the U14 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Pumas Unam celebrate winning the U14 Mina Cup final.
  • Pumas Unam (in white) and Manchester City Football Schools (black) in action.
    Pumas Unam (in white) and Manchester City Football Schools (black) in action.
  • Players in action during the U14 Mina Cup final match between Pumas (white) and City Football Club.
    Players in action during the U14 Mina Cup final match between Pumas (white) and City Football Club.
  • Player of Pumas celebrate after winning the U14 Mina Cup final.
    Player of Pumas celebrate after winning the U14 Mina Cup final.

Indian kids stun Manchester City and Barcelona as they dominate Mina Cup


Paul Radley
  • English
  • Arabic

The first Mina Cup youth football tournament in Dubai included sides bearing the names of Barcelona, Manchester City and La Liga.

It attracted champion teams from Mexico, the UK and Austria. Some of the players involved had been hand-picked and coached by the former Real Madrid Champions League winner Michel Salgado.

And yet the most dominant side anywhere in it were a set of kids from India, all of whom were making their first trip outside of their home country, having secured passports especially for it.

On the opening day of the Under 12 event, Minerva Academy, from India’s Punjab region, trounced Barcelona Academy.

In Monday night’s final in Jebel Ali, they thrashed Dubai-based La Liga Academy 4-0. In between, they did not concede a goal.

“I cannot believe we have won a tournament involving Barca, La Liga, Man City – it doesn’t feel like real life,” said Yoihenba Khwairakpam, Minerva’s goalkeeper.

“This is my first time outside India. When we were leaving, I was feeling nervous and excited that I was going outside our country and playing for our nation.

“We have the India flag on our shirt and we feel like we are representing our country as well as our academy.”

Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

Under 14 – Unam Pumas

Under 16 – Fursan Hispania

Under 18 – Madenat

Khwairakpam, who was first introduced to the game and the wonders of Cristiano Ronaldo by his father who was also an ex-footballer, is from Manipur, one of India’s football hotbeds.

The players are scouted from five regions in the country, with 90 per cent of the academy’s current intake originating from India’s north east.

“Football is a unique sport and I love it very much, especially when we play a tournament with the support we get,” said Ishan Saikia, a 10-year-old who has been with the Minerva Academy for three years after moving from his home in Assam.

“We feel like we are playing for our country. In cricket, you can hit the ball with the bat, but it is not like scoring a goal in football, or when the fans scream, ‘goal!’ We are very proud to win.”

In all, the tour to Dubai – including the administration of passport applications for all the players - cost the academy around $30,000.

A crowd funding campaign brought in around $1,000 of that, with the academy’s owner, Ranjit Bajaj, covering the remaining costs.

“The only difference between us and the other teams is these guys are on 100 per cent scholarships,” Bajaj said.

“They don’t pay even one single rupee. We take care of their food, stay and education. That is my personal dream.

“It is about getting India to the World Cup in 2034. It is a 15-year plan, and it is two years old.

“All the money I earn from my business, I put in here. There is no profit coming in. But hopefully one of these guys will be the next Mohamed Salah.”

It is about getting India to the World Cup in 2034. It is a 15-year plan, and it is two years old
Academy owner Ranjit Bajaj

Bajaj said his academicians are taught the methods of top European football sides from the age of seven.

“If you give Messi the ball for the first time at the age of 40, he will never be Messi,” Bajaj said.

“You have to start young. The reason you saw the difference in standard in this tournament is because these boys play all day with senior players, and they have been doing so since they were eight, nine, 10.

“This is unlike any football ever seen in India before. In terms of the way they play, what you see here is exactly what you see in top European clubs.

“If we keep doing this, you don’t need 1.3 billion people, you just need the right 30. Work on them, give them exposure every year, and we will get there. We have won a lot of national titles back at home, but I don’t think that is legacy.

“Legacy is getting your team to the World Cup. We are really far behind, and this is the only way we can catch up.”

Minerva Academy’s home base is a 25-acre campus in Punjab, with three full-size football fields, seven for seven-a-side, a gym and rehab and physiotherapy department.

He says, though, that his players have had their eyes opened by what they have seen at the Mina Cup.

“We play on natural grass at home, but these facilities here are world class,” he said of the Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence.

“That gives such an uplift to our players. Why? Because they know if they make it in life, this is what is waiting for them.

“The hunger for someone who is in Dubai or someone in Europe is not so great because they are used to this lifestyle.

“For these players, it is heaven. They have never been to these sort of facilities, or anywhere close to this.”

UK’s AI plan
  • AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
  • £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
  • £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
  • £250m to train new AI models
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKinetic%207%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rick%20Parish%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clean%20cooking%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self-funded%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors

Power: Combined output 920hp

Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic

Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km

On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025

Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000

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.”

T20 SQUADS

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Four tips to secure IoT networks

Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:

- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version

- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number

- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently

- Always create a different guest network for visitors

The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C600rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C500-4%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.9L%2F100km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh119%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20Beekeeper
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDavid%20Ayer%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJason%20Statham%2C%20Josh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Emmy%20Raver-Lampman%2C%20Minnie%20Driver%2C%20Jeremy%20Irons%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
PROFILE

Name: Enhance Fitness 

Year started: 2018 

Based: UAE 

Employees: 200 

Amount raised: $3m 

Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors 

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

The bio

Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions

School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira

Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk

Dream City: San Francisco

Hometown: Dubai

City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HyveGeo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abdulaziz%20bin%20Redha%2C%20Dr%20Samsurin%20Welch%2C%20Eva%20Morales%20and%20Dr%20Harjit%20Singh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECambridge%20and%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESustainability%20%26amp%3B%20Environment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%20plus%20undisclosed%20grant%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVenture%20capital%20and%20government%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV

Power: 360bhp

Torque: 500Nm

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Price: from Dh282,870

On sale: now

TWISTERS

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos

Rating: 2.5/5

Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

Under 14 – Unam Pumas

Under 16 – Fursan Hispania

Under 18 – Madenat

Updated: April 12, 2022, 9:07 AM