UAE miss out on the medals at Grand Slam Abu Dhabi judo competition

ABU DHABI // The UAE team failed to add to a silver medal won on Day 2 of the Grand Slam Abu Dhabi after all four of their judokas failed to reach the medal bouts in yesterday’s final day of action.

The UAE’s Moldovan-born Ivan Remarenco, who has already qualified for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, failed to go beyond the round of 16 in the 100kg division, losing out to Iran’s Javad Mahjoub at the Ipic Arena at Zayed Sports City.

Mihail Marchitan suffered a second-round defeat to Aleksandar Kukolj of Serbia in the 90kg class while Hassan Al Zaabi and Mansoor Al Suwaidi both made first-round exits in the 100kg.

The five gold medals that were up for grabs at last night’s penultimate Grand Slam on the International Judo Federation calendar were shared by five countries.

Marhinde Verkerk, the European champion, gave the Netherlands their first gold in the competition with victory in a golden score by choking Mayra Aguiar in the women’s 78kg final.

Theirs is a rivalry that dates back to the 2012 Olympics. Verkerk lost the bronze medal fight in London to the Brazilian but levelled the scores with victory at the 2013 World Championships in Rio.

Describing her route to the final to face Aguiar, in which she first faced Park Yujin of Korea before overcoming Victoriia Turks of Ukraine, Verkerk said: “I had a tough start and almost lost the first fight on a shido, but scored a yuko and won.

“In the second, I won by nice ippon. Thereafter I got better and better. The final was again tough and I managed to choke her and won.” China’s Sisi Ma deprived the Dutch from claiming a double gold when she defeated Tessie Savekouls in the women’s 78kg+ final.

Dutchman Noel van End also had to settle for silver in the men’s 90kg after Mongolia’s Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren rallied from two penalty points to win by ippon.

Kim Sung-min was one of four gold medal winners for South Korea, claiming the men’s 100kg+ from Iakiv Khammo of Ukraine, and the Russia’s Tagir Khaibulaev took gold in the 100kg division.

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Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.

Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.

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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.”