INDIANAPOLIS // Tom Brady's two long incompletions in the final minutes, and several missed chances throughout the game cost the New England Patriots a chance at another Super Bowl victory.
It also resulted in their second Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants in four years, 21-17 on Sunday.
"We just came up a little bit short," Brady said. "There were some missed opportunities out there. It was a very hard-fought game. We fought till the end. I'm very proud of that."
With just over four minutes left, Brady tossed a pass to the left side to a wide-open Wes Welker near the Giants 20-yard line. But Brady's most reliable receiver – and the NFL leader with 122 catches – could not hang on.
After the game, Welker sat at a podium and stared straight ahead. His eyes were red. His hands were folded in his lap.
He blamed himself.
"It comes to the biggest moment of my life, and [I] don't come up with it," Welker said. "Most critical situation, and I let the team down."
Minutes later, the Giants marched for the go-ahead touchdown with 57 seconds remaining.
But Brady had one last chance. He threw a desperation pass half the length of the field into the end zone. Aaron Hernandez went up among three defenders, and the ball was tipped – out of reach of a lunging Rob Gronkowski as the ball fell to the ground and time ran out.
"I felt like I was close," Gronkowski said. "But close isn't there."
Added Brady: "We got to the 50, and ran out of time."
There were plenty more wasted chances by a normally disciplined team that prides itself on not making mistakes.
"I thought we played very competitive, had our moments where we moved the ball and stopped them," coach Bill Belichick said. "We were in the lead for a good part of the game. We just came up a couple of plays short."
The Patriots forced three fumbles, but the Giants kept the ball after each one.
"Those plays like that don't happen too often in a game and we didn't capitalise on the opportunities," wide receiver Deion Branch said.
The worst of those missed chances came when Brandon Spikes recovered a fumble by Victor Cruz with 4:14 left in the first quarter. But the Patriots were penalised for having 12 men on the field. That gave New York the ball at the New England 6.
Two plays later, Eli Manning hit Cruz for a 2-yard touchdown and a 9-0 lead.
Then Brady got hot, completing a Super Bowl-record 16 straight passes, and the Patriots surged to a 17-15 lead. They had a chance to make it a two-possession game when a mix-up on the Giants defence left Welker alone.
On a second-and-11 at the Patriots 44, the sure-handed receiver had a chance to score. All he had to do was catch the ball and, perhaps, make it to the end zone. Amazingly, the ball went off his hands.
"It's one of those plays I've made 1,000 times," he said.
But there were a lot more plays that cost the Patriots their fourth Super Bowl championship in 11 years.
"I think every guy in the locker room wishes they could have done a little more," Brady said.
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MATCH INFO
Kolkata Knight Riders 245/6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 214/8 (20 ovs)
Kolkata won by 31 runs
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.”
