Matt Coward-Holley stood on an Olympic podium on Thursday and shook his head in disbelief as he collected bronze in the men’s trap.
A little over a decade ago, the 26-year-old found himself lying in hospital, his dreams of a career in professional rugby ended by a second serious back injury, but he has now converted himself into a world and European champion shooter – and an Olympic medallist to boot.
“To come away with a medal, being European and world champion and now Olympic bronze medallist is a little bit surreal,” he said.
“We all come here fighting for one medal but at the end of the day, it’s the Olympics and I think any medal is phenomenal.”
After a superb showing in the heats, Coward-Holley made a shaky start to Thursday’s final, missing three of his opening 10 shots before hitting 14 in a row to get back into the mix.
Though he could not get on terms with Czech Republic pair Jiri Liptak and David Kostelecky, who would go to a shoot-off for gold in which Liptak triumphed, Coward-Holley insisted he had no regrets.
“When you look at it, very few people do actually win medals at an Olympics, compared to the amount of people that compete,” he said. “To be on that roster actually having a medal, it is an unbelievable feeling.”
Coward-Holley was a promising prop in his teenage years but twice broke his back as a schoolboy in separate incidents.
After being advised to give up the game, he returned to shooting, a sport he had previously “done for fun” in his youth, but he could never have expected to reach this point.
“I didn’t really imagine it until I had broken onto the scene,” he said. “That’s when it became real that it could happen.
“Going to an Olympics was always a dream, but it doesn’t quite sink in that you could go and win medals until you get close to the event and you get that feeling.”
He first broke through in the double trap, winning bronze at the 2016 European Championships, but he switched to single trap in 2017 when the double was removed from the Olympic programme, and has not looked back.
Having replicated the bronze Ed Ling won in single trap and that Steven Scott took in the double in Rio five years ago, Coward-Holley has another event to come.
He will shoot alongside Kirsty Hegarty in the mixed team event which starts on Saturday – even if it means he will have to miss the British & Irish Lions’ Test against South Africa later in the day.
“We still have mixed pairs to shoot in a couple of days,” he said. “I’ve got more important things than the Lions to worry about at the minute. We will get the mixed pairs done and then we will go from there.”
SHAITTAN
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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.”
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
