Suddenly, there was Shiva. Golden brown, over 30 metres tall, he has a trident in one hand and a snake around his neck. Situated by the side of the road as he is, it's enough to stop traffic. We're here in Mauritius, just above the Tropic of Capricorn, some 4,000km from India and 2,000km from mainland Africa. Mauritius is Africa's farthest-flung nation, yet the deep influence of India is felt all over this island, and nowhere more so than here at Grand Bassin. Mauritius is Africa's only country with a majority Hindu population (48 per cent of a total of 1.3 million; the rest are made up of mainly Catholic Christians, 31 per cent, and Muslims, 16 per cent), and legend has it that here at Ganga Talao, as Grand Bassin is known in Hindi, Shiva spilt a few drops of water from the Ganges while protecting the world from floods. The Ganges apparently expressed concern at the loss of its water, but Shiva replied that dwellers from its banks would one day settle here and perform an annual pilgrimage.
And so it happened: every year, a vast three-day festival in spring, the Maha Shivaratri, attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees from across the island. Some walk barefoot to the lake. Today is just a normal day, but dozens of Hindus and a handful of tourists mill around the various colourful shrines at this rural spot in the hills of the south-west. They perform puja, ringing a bell on entering the temple, making offerings to the gods and being blessed by a priest. Tourists can, if they wish, be blessed too - and when they emerge from the temple the men have three horizontal white lines across their foreheads.
Significant Indian settlement began on Mauritius in the 1800s in less auspicious circumstances. After control by the Dutch and French, African slaves working on the island's sugar plantations were freed under the British but soon replaced with indentured labour from India and China. My young guide, Linzey Sophie-Aza, explains: "The British wanted control of Mauritius because French corsairs [pirates] were attacking its ships going to the East Indies. The French allowed Britain to take control of Mauritius provided they kept its civil code and allowed the settlers to keep their property. They kept the French language and the French kept [the island of] Reunion. Long after the British abolished slavery, the French wanted to keep it because of the plantations. So instead they got financial compensation and indentured labour."
A vast force of some 450,000 men and women from India was originally introduced to work in back-breaking conditions on farms and in factories all over the island. Yet they grew in influence, in time becoming citizens, owning land and eventually leading the fight for independence, which was granted in 1968. Today's Mauritius, with its mixed population, increasingly advanced economy and laid-back atmosphere, seems to represent an almost karmic balance to the hardships of the past. Linzey herself, calm and poised, is a mind-boggling array of cultures. "My grandparents are Chinese, my mother is French and my father is Anglican Chinese," she says. "Now I'm Catholic and Anglican." Before I can ponder how this can even be possible, Linzey is extolling present-day Mauritius' growing acceptance of mixed marriages. While ethnicity becomes increasingly diluted, Mauritian sense of identity seems to have become more intense. A white hotelier offers me a simpler analysis. "The beauty of this place is that no one here can say they are more Mauritian than anyone else. Prior to 1600 there was no one living here, we all came from somewhere else."
Strolling through the old quarter of the capital Port Louis, there are physical reminders of this extraordinary history. Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi Streets run into Sun Yat Sen Street, and old wooden clapboard houses surround French boulevards, British mansions, Tamil temples and a mosque built with Indian, Creole and Islamic influences. Following a general election the week before my visit in May, music boomed from a "thank you" party organised by the winning coalition - made up of the Mauritius Labour Party under Ravin Namgoolam, the Militant Socialist Movement under Pravin Jugnauth and the Mauritian Social Democrat Party led by Xavier Duval. Down the road, a small but noisy Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstration was taking place.
In the city's covered Central Market, a kalidescope of fresh produce from across Asia caters to Indian, Chinese, Creole and African tastes; the atmosphere is relaxed and I find myself wanting to stock up on produce even though that would be pointless. I drink in the scent of fresh herbs and vegetables each in a dozen different varieties before wandering around the old-fashioned meat market (in deference to the Muslim minority, most fresh meat in the country is halal). In a further nod to the subcontinent, the currency is the rupee (at one rupee for every eight dirhams, it's a third more valuable than its Indian counterpart). We make our way down to the sea and the city's large docks, which are marred by a rather ugly development called the Caudan Waterfront. Opened 10 years ago, I found it tacky and soulless, like a cheap Disney theme park - although there were some concessions to history including the nearby Postal Museum and Blue Penny Museum, which, along with the market and town centre with its different districts, all point to a past of trade, the constant importing and exporting of goods and people and everything in between.
It's a shame, then, that most visitors to Mauritius rarely venture outside the walls of their five-star resorts. One can see why - the country has until recently focused on high-spending tourists who demand excellent facilities, and with most coming from Europe either for a break from the winter weather or a honeymoon, there may be little need to leave their hotels. The drive from the airport to my hotel, along roads flanked by factories and the outskirts of Port Louis was certainly uninspiring and gave little idea of the island's beauty. Mauritius isn't, as I half-expected and which holiday brochures sometimes suggest, a giant version of an idyllic Maldivian island but a very real, gritty place with a developed economy and a large sophisticated population.
I'm staying at the Oberoi, a stunning ensemble of beautifully manicured villas near Balaclava on the north-west coast, yet a combination of factors including the weather, which has suddenly turned to winter, with its overcast skies and choppy water, coupled with indifferent service at the hotel, leaves me itching to get out. I'm glad I do. While most of Mauritius is covered with sugar cane fields, just a few kilometres away are the stunningly diverse botanical gardens in the pretty, small town of Pamplemousses. To give it its full name, the gardens are the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens, named after the first prime minister of independent Mauritius. The place also houses the funerary platform where his body was cremated, but his ashes were scattered in India.
Here, among 37 hectares of parkland, are hundreds of varieties of trees, plants, shrubs and flowers. The centrepiece is a large pond filled with giant Brazilian lilies, and here Linzey gives me a potted history of the place. The gardens sit on the site where Mahé de Labourdonnais, the French governor of Mauritius (then known as Ile de France) who lived in nearby Mont Plaisir, created a vegetable garden. In 1767, an appropriately-named administrator, Pierre Poivre, took charge of the garden and introduced spices such as nutmeg and cloves as well as ornamental trees, but it was not until 200 years later in 1967 that the restored gardens were opened to the public.
It's a surprisingly beautiful place, with some 3,000 trees, including 80 types of palm tree and a 250-year-old baobab tree near the entrance gates, the roots of which destroyed a nearby building. Linzey shows me casaurina trees, used for charcoal, bottle palms and 80-year-old Agathisrobusta, or pine trees, a gift from England. In my mind I'm transported to a British period drama. "This Christmas tree is 135 metres tall and was also a present from the UK", Linzey goes on. "These are Chinese cypress trees, used to make coffins." She also shows me jackfruit trees from Asia, ylang ylang trees from Madagascar, enormous talipot palms from southern India, camphor trees, introduced to fight malaria, monkey puzzle trees from South America and the mysterious "bleeding tree" from Mozambique, a large tree with a thick trunk which sports "wounds" oozing thick red sap. "These are used in black magic," Linzey tells me. "The male tree bleeds more than the female but they mix them up to pretend that someone is cured."
Further into the grounds, there are some curious oddities - a "four-spice" tree, a mishmash of several different trees have been grafted together, and a tangled, distorted specimen which is the result of grafting together 14 types of mango tree. There is also the traveller's palm, which holds potable water in its leaves, and enormous Indian banyan trees. "The banyan tree never dies," says Linzey. "Even if you destroy part of it, it grows back." Beside the Brazilian lilies are native mahogany and ebony trees, which were comprehensively cleared in the wild by the European colonialists. There are lotus flowers from India and China and tilapia fish in the water, and the bright-red fruit of the sandal tree, also from India and used in dyes.
North of Pamplemousses is a string of pretty seaside villages running either side of Grande Baie, the north's biggest tourist centre. It's a laid-back but buzzing place, with plenty of hotels and restaurants and a scenic bay filled with sailing boats. I much preferred it here to Flic en Flac, the island's other major tourist centre on the west coast. There's a good-sized market, a Tamil temple and stalls selling dhol puri and roti chaud, and although there are some large hotels, they are set back from the coast and generally more human in scale.
Further east, the road hugs the coastline, snaking behind beaches backed with casaurina trees and yachts bobbing in the water. All of Mauritius' beaches are open to the public, but access seems better here: small stretches are packed with local families having picnics and playing board games and beach tennis. We stop at Cap Malheureux, a scenic fishing village with a church beside the sea and a small harbour. Linzey tells me that it was here exactly 200 years ago in 1810 that the British invasion force (with troops from India) finally defeated the French and took over the island. There's no sign of a bloody battle today: children play on a grassy lawn which stretches down to a shoreline strewn with rocks and fishing boats; out at sea is the distinctively-shaped island of Coin de Mire, now a nature reserve. Farther east along the coast, the landscape becomes more rugged, and with a wide blue sky stretching down to the sea and golden sandy beaches, it gets my vote for a place to escape the crowds. Doubling back on ourselves and heading south, I'm again struck by the sleepy picnic spots and some impromptu fish markets by the side of the road around Trou Aux Biches, a popular diving centre.
Heading south on our way to the interior, we pass the ever-present volcanic peaks behind Port Louis and sweep along the south coast, passing salt pans, mangroves and huge banyan trees next to tiny settlements. We turn inland and drive uphill into the Black River mountain range, looking back on Le Morne peninsula, where Linzey tells me a group of escaped slaves fearing re-capture jumped to their death in the 19th century, not realising that slavery had been abolished following their escape. The peninsula's history has earned it a place on the World Heritage list, but it's home almost exclusively now to tourists relaxing on package holidays.
The road winds through Black River Gorges National Park and we stop briefly at the small village of Chamarel to view the "seven coloured earths", a site of cleared forest exposing rolling folds of volcanic earth of various colours - and one of Mauritius' most popular attractions. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous; with its thick forest, it's one of the few areas which show what the island must have looked like pre-colonisation. Close to the coloured earths is a lookout over the Chamarel waterfalls - a 100m drop surrounded by an Arcadian landscape of palm trees backing onto a forested plateau. Driving away from the site, the road turns to earth, footpaths cut through fields and bananas hang off nearby trees. We arrive at the Shiva statue at Grand Bassin, get out and have a look around before winding through the garden districts of Olivia and Sebastopol. We pass deep rivers and sugar cane fields which stretch all the way to the forest-covered mountains.
I can't help thinking again of how Mauritius has come full circle - of how the immigrants who changed the face of this island are now reaping the benefits of its growing tourist industry and of how much tourists stand to gain when they step outside their resorts.
rbehan@thenational.ae
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
Book%20Details
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Copa del Rey
Semi-final, first leg
Barcelona 1 (Malcom 57')
Real Madrid (Vazquez 6')
Second leg, February 27
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Team Angel Wolf Beach Blast takes place every Wednesday between 4:30pm and 5:30pm
Tour de France Stage 16:
165km run from Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans-sur-Isère
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday Stuttgart v Cologne (Kick-off 10.30pm UAE)
Saturday RB Leipzig v Hertha Berlin (5.30pm)
Mainz v Borussia Monchengladbach (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v SC Freiburg (5.30pm)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (5.30pm)
Sunday Wolfsburg v Arminia (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Hoffenheim (9pm)
Bayer Leverkusen v Augsburg (11.30pm)
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
New Zealand T20 squad
New Zealand T20 squad: Tim Southee (captain), Finn Allen, Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Will Young
liverpool youngsters
Ki-Jana Hoever
The only one of this squad to have scored for Liverpool, the versatile Dutchman impressed on his debut at Wolves in January. He can play right-back, centre-back or in midfield.
Herbie Kane
Not the most prominent H Kane in English football but a 21-year-old Bristolian who had a fine season on loan at Doncaster last year. He is an all-action midfielder.
Luis Longstaff
Signed from Newcastle but no relation to United’s brothers Sean and Matty, Luis is a winger. An England Under-16 international, he helped Liverpool win the FA Youth Cup last season.
Yasser Larouci
An 18-year-old Algerian-born winger who can also play as a left-back, Larouci did well on Liverpool’s pre-season tour until an awful tackle by a Sevilla player injured him.
Adam Lewis
Steven Gerrard is a fan of his fellow Scouser, who has been on Liverpool’s books since he was in the Under-6s, Lewis was a midfielder, but has been converted into a left-back.
T20 World Cup Qualifier
Final: Netherlands beat PNG by seven wickets
Qualified teams
1. Netherlands
2. PNG
3. Ireland
4. Namibia
5. Scotland
6. Oman
T20 World Cup 2020, Australia
Group A: Sri Lanka, PNG, Ireland, Oman
Group B: Bangladesh, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland
The specs: 2018 Genesis G70
Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 370hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 1,300rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.6L / 100km
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US' most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was first created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out projectiles, namely ballistic missiles, as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 93 miles above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then deployed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
INFO
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20CarbonSifr%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202022%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Onur%20Elgun%2C%20Mustafa%20Bosca%20and%20Muhammed%20Yildirim%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Climate%20tech%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%241%20million%20raised%20in%20seed%20funding%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
'Avengers: Infinity War'
Dir: The Russo Brothers
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen
Four stars
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
MATCH INFO
Schalke 0
Werder Bremen 1 (Bittencourt 32')
Man of the match Leonardo Bittencourt (Werder Bremen)
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
THE SPECS
Engine: AMG-enhanced 3.0L inline-6 turbo with EQ Boost and electric auxiliary compressor
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 429hp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh360,200 (starting)
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
RESULTS
Bantamweight title:
Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) bt Xavier Alaoui (MAR)
(KO round 2)
Catchweight 68kg:
Sean Soriano (USA) bt Noad Lahat (ISR)
(TKO round 1)
Middleweight:
Denis Tiuliulin (RUS) bt Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
(TKO round 1)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) bt Joachim Tollefsen (DEN)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 68kg:
Austin Arnett (USA) bt Daniel Vega (MEX)
(TKO round 3)
Lightweight:
Carrington Banks (USA) bt Marcio Andrade (BRA)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 58kg:
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) bt Malin Hermansson (SWE)
(Submission round 2)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (CAN) bt Juares Dea (CMR)
(Split decision)
Middleweight:
Mohamad Osseili (LEB) bt Ivan Slynko (UKR)
(TKO round 1)
Featherweight:
Tarun Grigoryan (ARM) bt Islam Makhamadjanov (UZB)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 54kg:
Mariagiovanna Vai (ITA) bt Daniella Shutov (ISR)
(Submission round 1)
Middleweight:
Joan Arastey (ESP) bt Omran Chaaban (LEB)
(Unanimous decision)
Welterweight:
Bruno Carvalho (POR) bt Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
(TKO)
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
