A celebration of Japanese culture, history and innovation, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was launched with a spectacular opening ceremony on Friday.
Many of the events are now underway, and below are the pick of the athletes in action from the Mena region on Saturday.
Archery - mixed team
Yumenoshima Ranking Field
The archers are at it today, in the mixed team event, of which the full competition will be concluded with bronze medal and gold medal matches. The Egyptian and Tunisian teams are in the mix.
Artistic Gymnastics (men)
Ariake Gymnastics Centre
Among those to watch are 2021 African Championships gold medallist, Egypt’s Omar Mohamed, and three-time Olympian Alexander Shatilov from Israel.
Badminton
Musashino Forest Plaza
Badminton gets underway with representatives from Egypt and Israel among the many teams looking prize medals away from the Chinese.
Look out for Syrian-born Aram Mahmoud, who will be competing on the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT), as he takes on world No 7 Jonatan Christie from Indonesia. In a recent interview Aram said he would be “playing not only for my country, but for refugees all around the world - there are a lot of people who need that motivation to achieve the unexpected.”
Boxing - Various preliminaries
Kokugican Arena
The preliminary boxing rounds in all women’s and four of the eight men’s weight classes.
A big fight to watch will be Algeria’s Abdelhafid Benchabla, who was just shy of a medal in Beijing, London and Rio, finishing in fifth in the light heavyweight classes in all three games. He will be fighting 2017 World Championship bronze medallist Sanjar Tursunov from Uzbekistan.
The first inter-regional contest of the Games comes in the evening session between Iran’s Daniyal Shahbakhsh and Morocco’s Mohamed Hamout in the men’s featherweight (52kg-57kg).
Road Cycling - men’s race
Fuji International Speedway
On the back of his second Tour de France victory, UAE Team Emirates cyclist Tadej Pogacar is hot favourite, riding for Slovenia. There will be cyclists from Iran, Morocco, Eritrea and Algeria to keep an eye on.
Fencing - women's epee and men’s sabre
Makuharri Messe
World No 11 in women’s epee is Tunisia’s Sarra Besbes, who will be taking on Italy’s Federica Isola in what promises to be a thrilling encounter.
There will be representatives in action from Algeria, Egypt and Iran.
Handball - men
Yoyogi National Stadium
The men’s Bahraini handball team will be making their Olympic debut when they take on four-time and 2012 silver medallists Sweden.
As world ranked No 15, Egypt are hoping to get off to a strong start. The Pharoahs will be playing their opening game against Portugal.
Shooting - women’s 10m air rifle and men’s air pistol
Asaka Shooting Range
Iran will be the nation to watch in the 10m events. World ranked No 4, Javad Foroughi, will be hoping to continue the momentum from his ISSF World Cup win last month.
Worth also keeping tabs on is Iran’s women’s 10m air rifle team that picked up gold in the ISSF World Cup. Armina Sadeghian and Fatemeh Karamzadeh will both be aiming for the podium.
Swimming
Tokyo Aquatics Centre
It’s a busy evening session to open up the swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Look out for 20-year old Jordanian Amro Al-Wir in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Expect to see athletes from Egypt and Israel in this session.
Table Tennis - women’s and wen’s singles, doubles and mixed
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
The Chinese have had a firm grip on table-tennis throughout ping-pong’s Olympic history, winning 28 of all 32 gold medals awarded.
In action is 12-year-old Syrian Hend Zaza, the youngest Olympian at the 2020 Games, and the only Syrian to have ever made the Olympics by qualification.
From this region, the heavyweights to watch are the Egyptian pair, Omar Assar and Dina Meshref, who will be taking on South Korea’s Sangsu Lee and Jihee Jeon in the mixed doubles.
Taekwondo - women’s 49kg, men’s 58kg
Plenty of talent from the region on the opening day of Taekwondo. The biggest name is Iranian world No 5 Armin Seighalani in the men’s 58kg weight class. Also look out for 20-year-old Moroccan Oumaima Bouchti, ranked world No 15 in the women’s 49kg, and gold medallist at the African Championships this year.
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More coverage from the Future Forum
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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