Abandoned by his parents, sent to an orphanage and teased by classmates as a child, it has been a tough journey for Thai athlete Ardul Butsuri.
The teenager, 18, says he is no longer alone after finding a "new family" through sports and is making friends in his first Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi this year.
A star goalkeeper for Thailand, Mr Butsuri dives and slides to save strikes from opponents that have included Germany and Ghana.
Sports has transformed him from a child who never made eye contact or interacted with people to a confident athlete keen to do his country proud.
"For many years, I felt lonely. I'm not alone any more. Sports has given me a new family. With Special Olympics Thailand, I train in table tennis, football and athletics. Everybody can follow their dream. I play football. My dream came true," he told The National.
“I always wanted to play for my country. Playing football feels good.”
Mr Butsuri’s story has been punctuated by loneliness since the age of four, when his parents battled drug addiction and neglected him and his nine siblings.
While some of his brothers and sisters were adopted, Mr Butsuri was sent to an orphanage in Lopburi, a city 150 kilometres north-east of Thai capital Bangkok.
The athlete lived with a foster family for five years but when things did not work out, he returned to the orphanage.
His developmental delays were picked up later at school and it exposed him to taunts from classmates, who made fun of his inability to keep up with school work.
"In that school, children were not nice, not friendly," said the soft-spoken Mr Butsuri.
“They mimicked me, they said I’m 'not normal'. It was better when I moved to a special school. I had more friends and there were activities.”
Dr Adinun Apivatgaroon, Thailand's team doctor, said there were similar stories of rejection of children with intellectual disabilities who were not diagnosed early.
“The problem occurs in the first phase of learning, before that no one recognises there is anything different. Not knowing why there is a difference in their abilities makes the children very unhappy,” said Dr Apivatgaroon.
Apart from sports, Mr Butsuri’s personal life has taken a positive turn, too.
A year ago, a social worker at the orphanage welcomed him into her home.
Still quiet for his age, Mr Butsuri, has told Thai officials that he finally has a sense of belonging in a “real family that cares”.
The orphanage has maintained contact with his parents. But scarred by the years of neglect, the footballer has told the orphanage he does not want to meet his family because the memories of his childhood are too upsetting.
“Maybe I will see them after I grow up, not now,” he said.
Head coach Sumran Chamchoi has seen Mr Butsuri change over the past decade, from a child who sat rooted to the spot to an active, talented sportsman.
“Ardul would sit still by himself. He was not responsive. Football has changed him because now he likes to participate, he communicates. He is not so shy any more,” said Mr Chamchoi.
Sport has also made him physically stronger and more able to overcome the colds and fever he frequently suffered from before.
Mr Chamchoi said it was easier to teach children with intellectual disabilities.
“They are like white paper. They have the ability to absorb a lot and train hard.”
Mr Butsuri's ambition is to train as a mechanic of cars and motorcycles, but he wants to continue to compete in the Special Olympics World Games.
“I want to work hard and win medals for my country," he said.
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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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