The Sri Lankan opener Malinda Warnapura avoids a bouncer from Zaheer Khan as VVS Laxman looks on.
The Sri Lankan opener Malinda Warnapura avoids a bouncer from Zaheer Khan as VVS Laxman looks on.
The Sri Lankan opener Malinda Warnapura avoids a bouncer from Zaheer Khan as VVS Laxman looks on.
The Sri Lankan opener Malinda Warnapura avoids a bouncer from Zaheer Khan as VVS Laxman looks on.

Sport

Sri Lanka recover from early blows

Malinda Warnapura's half century holds Sri Lanka together at a time when India threatened to make inroads.

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

July 23, 2008

  • English
  • Arabic

COLOMBO // The opener Malinda Warnapura cracked an unbeaten half-century to steer Sri Lanka to some respectability as the home team ended a rain-curtailed first day's play of the first Test against India at 85-2 at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday. Warnapura made 50 in 74 balls with six fours as he held the side together at a time the Indians threatened to make inroads into the batting after Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first under overcast conditions.

Two sessions of play were lost due to wet conditions from early morning rain and only 22 of the day's remaining quota of 42 overs were possible as bad light ended play. The paceman Ishant Sharma made the first strike for India when he picked up Michael Vandort for 3, the latter edging a rising ball for wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik. Sri Lanka then fell in further trouble when the dependable Kumar Sangakkara fell to a low catch to Rahul Dravid at the first slip for 12.

Warnapura played positively, untroubled by the two dismissals, as he partnered his skipper Mahela Jayawardena who remained unbeaten on 16 to see Sri Lanka through the day's play without further losses. He was hit a few times on the shoulder and elbow by Zaheer, but remained undeterred. India got off to a bright start, when Sharma had Vandort going fishing on a delivery dug short with the total on seven. Zaheer then removed Sangakkara, but after he had added 50 for the second wicket with Warnapura, who batted superbly to reach his half-century before stumps were called early. The 29-year-old had added 28 with Jayawardena, who faced 27 deliveries and struck a couple of fours.

Both, Warnapura and Jayawardene will now hope to build on their scores and set the platform for a decent first innings total when play starts 30 minutes early. More rain is predicted over the remaining four days. Ajantha Mendis makes his Test debut and the spotlight is on the 23-year-old spinner expected to bowl in tandem with his more illustrious team mate Muttiah Muralitharan, who has taken a remarkable 20 per cent of all his Test wickets on this ground.

India included Gautam Gambhir, who gets another chance to resurrect his Test career, but the rest of the batting looks formidable with Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. The return of Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh with skipper Anil Kumble boosts their bowling attack. @Email:apassela@thenational.ae

Volunteers offer workers a lifeline

Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.

When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.

Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.

Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.

“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.

Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.

“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Rating: 4/5

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What is dialysis?

Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.

It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.

There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.

In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.

In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.

It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.

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Ipaf in numbers

Established: 2008

Prize money:  $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.

Winning novels: 13

Shortlisted novels: 66

Longlisted novels: 111

Total number of novels submitted: 1,780

Novels translated internationally: 66

Classification of skills

A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation. 

A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.

The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000. 

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'Gold'

Director:Anthony Hayes

Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes

Rating:3/5

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.”

Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation. 

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

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