Mohammed Abbas Darwish, the triple jumper who is the UAE's best chance of an automatic qualifier in athletics for the London Olympics, is a tough nut to crack.
With the burden of expectation weighing heavy on an athlete who is so far ahead of the field in this country that he won his event at the President's Cup at the weekend off just a five-pace run-up, he is not a fan of chat. "I like quiet," the Emirati jumper says.
He does not even like giving interviews in his native tongue, so having to answer questions in English ("You speak too fast") only prompts a new level of reticence.
What about a little common ground, then. Jonathan Edwards? Judging by his reaction, they are his two favourite English words.
"Oh, he is the best player!" Darwish, 26, says, suddenly swapping wary truculence for a beaming smile. "He is amazing. I watch him all the time. Even now in training I try to make my technique just like him.
"I have DVDs of him and look on the internet all the time. Eighteen twenty-nine."
For a moment he ponders the number that marks the triple jump world record, set by Edwards in winning gold for Great Britain at the World Championships in Gothenburg in 1995.
For the next six weeks or so, however, the only digits he really cares about are 16.85 - the qualifying B-standard for the Games.
Attaining it would secure his passage to the Olympics, but it is five centimetres further than he has ever jumped.
Between now and the July 8 cut-off, he has a grand tour planned when he will be chasing the distance.
He has approximately four chances left, with trips scheduled to IAAF-approved competitions in Bulgaria, France, the UK and Morocco.
The clock is ticking.
"Whenever I watched it on the TV, I always wanted to be there," he says of the Games.
"That is still my wish, but I want to do it by getting the standard, not with a wild card."
At the time of the last Olympics, in Beijing, Darwish was still pursuing the high jump and pole vault, disciplines in which he holds national records.
He was prompted to switch to the triple jump at the suggestion of Svetoslav Topuzov, the coach recruited three and a half years ago by the Athletics Federation.
The Bulgarian knows a thing or two about it, having overseen the rise of Tereza Marinova to the top of the podium in the women's event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
While acknowledging Darwish's raw talent, Topuzov concedes his charge is behind schedule in a sport which takes "five or six years" to hone the requisite - Edwards-templated - technique.
"Everybody expects strong results in a short space of time," the coach says. "Because of that everybody makes pressure: give results, give results, give results.
"But this is not good for the player. They need to take it easy, prepare slowly, slowly and grow towards the results."
It is something of a surprise that Darwish took so long - until the age of 22 - to realise his true athletic vocation, but he has never been short of options.
Along with the national records he holds in three jumping disciplines, he has competed for the UAE in the 110-metres hurdles, and has a best of 21.12 seconds in the 200m.
Away from the runway, he occasionally gets in the boxing ring to spar with one of his five brothers.
He is also driven by the national obsession, football, and all the more since Al Wasl, his athletics employers, acquired the services of a certain Argentine.
"I play football on the beach all the time," Darwish says. "And I see Diego Maradona at training every day.
"He is with the footballers on the pitch, and I am next to them on the track."
It has not escaped him that, as one of six boys and with three sisters, too, the Darwish squad are better suited to team sports. "With our father and mother as well, we have a team for football," he says.
That is quite a few people he needs to please, even before you get to the hopes of the rest of the Emirati public.
He might be feeling the glare of expectations, but the national Athletics Federation are glad to have him.
"It is normal that he should feel the pressure," says Ahmed Al Kamali, the president of the UAE Athletics Federation. "Even the best athletes around the world feel that way."
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Results
Female 49kg: Mayssa Bastos (BRA) bt Thamires Aquino (BRA); points 0-0 (advantage points points 1-0).
Female 55kg: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Amal Amjahid (BEL); points 4-2.
Female 62kg: Beatriz Mesquita (BRA) v Ffion Davies (GBR); 10-2.
Female 70kg: Thamara Silva (BRA) bt Alessandra Moss (AUS); submission.
Female 90kg: Gabreili Passanha (BRA) bt Claire-France Thevenon (FRA); submission.
Male 56kg: Hiago George (BRA) bt Carlos Alberto da Silva (BRA); 2-2 (2-0)
Male 62kg: Gabriel de Sousa (BRA) bt Joao Miyao (BRA); 2-2 (2-1)
Male 69kg: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Isaac Doederlein (USA); 2-2 (2-2) Ref decision.
Male 77kg: Tommy Langarkar (NOR) by Oliver Lovell (GBR); submission.
Male 85kg: Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2-2 (1-1) Ref decision.
Male 94kg: Kaynan Duarte (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL); submission.
Male 110kg: Joao Rocha (BRA) bt Yahia Mansoor Al Hammadi (UAE); submission.
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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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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