DUBAI // A day after losing her opening match of the PSA World Series Finals, world champion Nour El Sherbini was at her merciless best against good friend and compatriot Omneya Abdel Kawy on Wednesday, cruising to a 11-4, 11-8 win in just 14 minutes.
Taking the court for the first time since her win over Briton Laura Massaro to win the world title in Malaysia last month, El Sherbini lost two tight games to former world No 1 Raneem El Welily on the opening day of the Finals on Tuesday, but she dismissed suggestions that the loss served as a wake-up call.
“I don’t think yesterday’s loss was a shock or something,” said El Sherbini, who came bolting out of the blocks against Kawy and was up 6-1 ahead after just two minutes. Three minutes later, she was up a game.
“Raneem has been the world No 1 and growing up, I was looking up to her. I learnt a lot from her. She has beaten me a lot of times, and I think I have only a few wins against her,” El Sherbini said of her opening defeat.
“So I was very happy the way I played against her; I am happy it was two close games. I don’t think yesterday was a bad result for me after all the stuff that happened after the world championship.”
See also:
• Q&A: World No 2 Laura Massaro looking to make amends at PSA World Series Finals in Dubai
• Ahmed Rizvi: World No 1 Nour El Sherbini suffers opening defeat at PSA World Series Finals in Dubai
• Dates, location, line-up and ticket info: All you need to know about PSA Dubai World Series Finals
Returning home from the World Open in Malaysia, El Sherbini had little time for squash, as she appeared for her university exams and also tried to accommodate the unprecedented media demands on her time.
“I missed a few papers because I was at the worlds,” said El Sherbini, who is studying media management. “But I sat for all six exams after returning home. Now I am done with that and I have my final exams later.
“It’s really hard for me. I am trying to manage between the exams and the squash ... just trying to do my best.”
Despite the difficulties of balancing her squash career and studies, the 20 year old from Alexandria will be hoping she does not return early from the Finals. El Sherbini meets Frenchwoman Camille Serme in her final group match on Thursday and needs a win to make sure she qualifies for the last four; a defeat will send Serme through.
“It’s another important match for me; it’s going to decided whether I am in or not,” said El Sherbini, who has won her last two matches against Serme after losing to her in the quarter-finals of both the US Open and British Open in 2015.
“We’ve always had very, very tough matches against each other, so I am just going to go out and do my best. Hopefully, the better player will win.”
El Welily will have no such concerns as she has already booked her spot in the semis after staging two superb rallies to upstage Serme.
Having lost the opening game, El Welily managed to fightback from 6-8 in the second and 6-9 in the deciding third game to win 9-11, 12-10, 11-9. She will now take on Egyptian compatriot Kawy in her final Group B and is happy she will not be taking the court today with the “pressure of qualifying” still on her mind.
“I am pretty lucky to get through I guess with a very close win yesterday and an even closer win today,” El Welily. “So I am really happy because I don’t have to come out tomorrow not knowing what I need to do to qualify.
“Still, I don’t think there will be a drop in my intensity levels. My plan is just to keep winning every match no matter what and to prove to myself that I can beat anyone. That is my mental attitude at the moment. The match might be inconsequential for me, but I have things to prove to myself.”
Gregory Gaultier, the reigning men’s world champion, is also through to the last four after brutalising Australian Cameron Pilley 11-3, 11-1 on Wednesday. The Frenchman had defeated Germany’s Simon Rosner 11-2, 11-9 Tuesday.
Rosner, meanwhile, has kept his qualifying hopes alive with a comfortable 11-3, 11-7 win over Egyptian fourth seed Omar Mosaad, who has now lost both his matches. He will meet Pilley in their final group match on Thursday, and the winner of that match will join Gaultier from Group B in the semis.
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The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Khodar%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%20and%20Alexandria%2C%20in%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ayman%20Hamza%2C%20Yasser%20Eidrous%20and%20Amr%20El%20Sheikh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20agriculture%20technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Saudi%20Arabia%E2%80%99s%20Revival%20Lab%20and%20others%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmployees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
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.”
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Saturday's results
Women's third round
- 14-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-2
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4. 6-0
- Coco Vandeweghe (USA) beat Alison Riske (USA) 6-2, 6-4
- 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 19-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 7-6, 6-1
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-0
Men's third round
- 13-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1, 6-1 -- retired
- Sam Queery (United States) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
- 6-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat 25-Albert Ramos (Spain) 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
- 10-Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Sebastian Ofner (Austria) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
- 11-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
- Adrian Mannarino (France) beat 15-Gael Monfils (France) 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 715bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh1,289,376
On sale: now
