Meeting will help ASNs to 'excel', says Mohammed ben Sulayem


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DUBAI // Mohammed ben Sulayem, the Emirati vice-president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, will today chair a historical meeting in Lebanon that he yesterday described as a "massive opportunity for the development of motorsport in this region".

National Sporting Authorities (ASN) from 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) will meet in Beirut over the next two days to discuss how to benefit from the involvement of the FIA Institute, an organisation focused on improving safety and sustainability in motorsport. An ASN, as delegated by the FIA, is the recognised governing body for sport in each country.

The FIA Institute annually spends €6.4 million (Dh32.4m) supporting and helping develop grassroots motorsport across the globe, said ben Sulayem, who is also president of the UAE Automobile and Touring Club. Last year, however, only 50 of the 128 ASNs who are eligible to apply for grants put forward an application, while only "two or three" of the 50 were from the Mena region, he added.

The UAE applied for support last year and were provided help from Australia in training race marshals ahead of this year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"As vice-president of the FIA, it is my duty to support my region and this meeting is the first time in history where 19 ASNs from the Middle East and North Africa will come together to discuss what they each need to excel in the future," ben Sulayem said.

As well as ensuring the continued success of the Middle East Rally Championship and strengthening the connections between Mena countries, Ben Sulayem added that special attention will be focused on developing karting and drag racing in the region.

Applications for FIA Institute grants must be registered by the end of the month.

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9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m

Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

How it works

A $10 hand-powered LED light and battery bank

Device is operated by hand cranking it at any time during the day or night 

The charge is stored inside a battery

The ratio is that for every minute you crank, it provides 10 minutes light on the brightest mode

A full hand wound charge is of 16.5minutes 

This gives 1.1 hours of light on high mode or 2.5 hours of light on low mode

When more light is needed, it can be recharged by winding again

The larger version costs between $18-20 and generates more than 15 hours of light with a 45-minute charge

No limit on how many times you can charge

 

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

The Details

Kabir Singh

Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series

Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa

Rating: 2.5/5 

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