Jiddu Lemos still has the 'passion' to balance jiu-jitsu competitions with hectic life

Jiddu Lemos said he has no plans to give up competitive jiu-jitsu despite balancing competitions with a hectic work and family life.

Lemos, 34, claimed gold in the No-Gi (without the traditional kimono) black belt 108-kilogram Masters-1 division at the Zayed Ramadan Tournament in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, defeating fellow Brazilian and defending champion Paulo Pinto 2-0 on points in the final.

Away from competition, Lemos is a jiu-jitsu instructor at the Al Taawun School in Abu Dhabi, is in the final year working on his doctorate in physical education, and has a family to look after.

“When you have the passion to work and compete you can find time,” he said after his victory at the Armed Forces Officers Club.

“I believe, we as teachers need to lead our pupils by example. I take a lot of pride when competing and whatever success achieved for me is respect earned from the kids we train.”

Lemos’ win took his record to 2-1 against compatriot Pinto, the world No 13, in the No-Gi category, while in the Gi division, they have one win apiece.

“It’s always a touch-and-go contest between me and Paulo,” Lemos said. “We are good friends off the mat and enjoy the competition between us whenever we cross paths. I was the luckier one this time.”

The Brazilians, as they have in previous editions of the tournament, dominated the black belt divisions by winning all six golds on offer over the two days.

Adriano Araujo retained his 75kg title, while Matheus Romero took gold in the 108kg class. In the Masters-1 category, Leandro da Silva emerged the winner in the 75kg, with William Nozaro (83kg), Flavio Serafin (92kg) and Lemos (108kg) the other champions.

Only two members of the UAE national team took part in the competition, but both Humaid Al Kaabi and Khalifa Nassrati Al Blooshi were both successful in the blue belt 75kg and 67kg respectively.

“I just love to take part in competitions, be it every week or every month, as long as I’m healthy,” Al Kaabi, 18, said.

“The UAE is now well established as a jiu-jitsu nation and for staging high level competitions. It is there for everyone to see.

“This Ramadan competition for instance, had more foreign and expatriate participants than the Emiratis. The bar is raised at every competition, and for sure, it has improved our own levels as well.”

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

Hometown: Cologne, Germany

Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes

Favourite hobby: Football

Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

How the bonus system works

The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.

The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.

There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).

All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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India squad

Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.

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.”