Faisal Al Ketbi and eight of his UAE jiu-jitsu teammates will train in Brazil for the next six weeks in preparation for the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Francois Nel / Getty Images
Faisal Al Ketbi and eight of his UAE jiu-jitsu teammates will train in Brazil for the next six weeks in preparation for the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Francois Nel / Getty IShow more

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UAE jiu-jitsu champion Faisal Al Ketbi and his teammates are Brazil-bound for training camp

The country’s best are training in South America and Europe in preparation for next month's Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships, reports Amith Passela.

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

March 09, 2015

ABU DHABI // Nine members of the UAE jiu-jitsu team, including double Asian Beach Games gold medallist Faisal Al Ketbi, have flown to Brazil for a six-week training camp ahead of the seventh Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

The UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation (UJJF) is leaving nothing to chance in a bid to grab a share of the medals at the tournament, which starts on April 20.

A dozen youth team members will be heading to Athens, Greece, for another camp on Thursday. There is also a group of 25 in the blue belt category training in a camp in Abu Dhabi.

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The Abu Dhabi World Pro, as it is popularly known, will have Dh1.7 million up for grabs in prize money making it the richest tournament in the world.

The first three days of the tournament, which runs until April 25, are for youngsters and the remaining three days for the main championships. It takes place at the IPIC Arena at the Zayed Sports City.

Marcos Almeida and Gabriella Garcia, the men and women’s ultimate class winners both from Brazil, have confirmed they are coming to defend their titles.

The World Pro will also serve as a trial for those competitors from Asia to prepare for the upcoming Asia Zone Qualifiers for the inaugural Asian Championships in Jakarta at the end of this year.

Abdulmunem Al Hashemi, chairman of the UJJF, is expecting big things from April’s tournament

“The sheer number of quality international players, the expanded children’s cup and the ever-growing standard of competition will undoubtedly set a new precedent,” he said at yesterday’s official launch of the championship at the IPIC Arena.

Interest in the competition is growing year on year.

“We expect more than 100 countries to take part, which gives us the impression that this championship is the best in the world,” said Fahad Ali Al Shamsi, chief executive of UAEJJF.

“We already have more than 1,000 registered international entries, it is the same in the kids championships. We normally receive around 1,000 for a local competition and here it can easily be in excess of 1,500 to 2,000. That’s the reason we have expanded it [the kids championships] to over three days.”

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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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