There is no shortage of souvenirs to take home from the Africa Cup of Nations for those countries who might have to wait longest for their next appearance at the tournament.
The more they replay Hellings 'Gabadinho' Mhango’s 40-metre missile of a goal on Malawian television, the more inspiring it will seem. Even if it was scored in a losing cause, the 2-1 defeat to Morocco, it sprinkled lasting real stardust onto Malawi’s first ever match in the knockout phase of an Afcon.
The Comoros meanwhile have returned to their islands - or in the cases of most of their players, their clubs across Europe - with scarcely credible stories about their debut Afcon after they were deprived of a goalkeeper for the most significant match in their history. The last-16 tie against Cameroon had seen all three keepers in their squad ruled out due to injury and positive Covid-19 tests, yet they managed to limit their hosts to a narrow 2-1 victory.
Comoros had to play with 10 men for 83 minutes following captain Nadjim Abdou’s red card. But they will always have Youssouf M’Changama’s goal, that set up a nervy last 10 minutes for Cameroon, and is a strong challenger to Mhango’s for the best strike of an Afcon featuring some bold long-range shooting.
M’Changama had volunteered to play in goal when it was confirmed Comoros would need to give an outfield player the gloves. Happily, Chaker Alhadur, the left-back, took the responsibility, leaving M’Changama free to unleash his stunning direct free-kick, from more than 30 metres distance, past Andre Onana.
‘Little’ Comoros had already eliminated Ghana at the group phase. Equatorial Guinea effectively ousted holders Algeria and now fly the flag for the unheralded and the underdogs in the quarter-finals where they will meet Senegal on Sunday.
No one would readily forecast a goal-fest in that tie. Equatorial Guinea have two goals from four matches, the latest two goalless hours against Mali, a tie settled via sudden-death penalty shoot-out. Senegal managed one goal - deep into stoppage time of their opening match against Zimbabwe - in three group-stage matches, and scored their two against Cape Verde on Tuesday only once their opponents had had two players sent off.
But the outlook for Senegal, who look the strongest candidates to etch a new name on the trophy, has been cheered by Sadio Mane reporting no long-term effects of the head injury he sustained against Cape Verde. With Mane, scorer of two of his country’s three goals in Cameroon, up front and Edouard Mendy keeping goal, Senegal have the key compass points of a succesful campaign well covered.
The same would have been said of Egypt ahead of this Afcon. Mane’s Liverpool colleague, Mohamed Salah put them into the last eight with the fifth successful spot-kick of their penalty shoot-out against Ivory Coast in Douala; a Salah goal broke their barren start - 160 minutes goalless - to the group phase and there can be no doubting his determination to gild a brilliant season with his club with a first major title with his country.
But Egypt may have to rely on their second-choice goalkeeper, Mohamed Abou ‘Gabaski’ Gabal, to advance further. Mohamed El Shenawy, one of the continent’s best keepers, gave way, injured, to Gabaski late in the 0-0 draw with the Ivorians.
The understudy made a fine save in open play, and kept out Eric Bailly’s weak penalty in the shoot-out but Egypt manager Carlos Queiroz would much prefer to have his trusted first-choice available for Sunday’s all-North Africa meeting with Morocco.
Queiroz was concerned about the seriousness of El Shenawy’s muscle problem after Egypt had progressed on Wednesday night, adding to his vexed mood. He criticised the Egyptian media: “The players deserve more respect from local analysts for their performance,” he said, anticipating the reaction to a night when several goalscoring chances had been squandered.
Morocco, for whom Achraf Hakimi is coming into form, will likely be less forgiving of Egyptian misses than Ivory Coast were.
Morocco-Egypt is the heavyweight quarter-final, Saturday’s joust between Burkina Faso and Tunisia perhaps the most intriguingly balanced. The David versus Goliath encounter takes place in Douala, where a poor playing surface has tripped up some of the finest players at the tournament. The Gambia, Afcon debutants, take on Cameroon, who have the look of favourites as long as skipper Vincent Aboubaker remains such a potent threat.
Expect the mantra that has become this Afcon’s theme - “there are no small teams in Africa” - to be repeated again and again ahead of that quarter-final. Gambia were minnows when they arrived at the tournament. Less than three weeks later, they are more than useful middleweights.
Price, base / as tested From Dh173,775 (base model)
Engine 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo, AWD
Power 249hp at 5,500rpm
Torque 365Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Gearbox Nine-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined 7.9L/100km
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Notable Yas events in 2017/18
October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)
December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race
March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event
March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1 minute, 35.246 seconds.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 1:35.271.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 1:35.332.
4. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.497.
5. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1:35.571.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.815.
7. Daniil Kvyat, Russia, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:35.963.
8. Lance Stroll, Canada, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 1:36.046.
9. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 1:36.065.
10. Pierre Gasly, France, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:36.242.
Eliminated after second session
11. Esteban Ocon, France, Renault, 1:36.359.
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Renault, 1:36.406.
13. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, 1:36.631.
14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:38.248.
Eliminated after first session
15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.075.
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.555.
17. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas Ferrari, 1:37.863.
18. George Russell, Great Britain, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.045.
19. Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazil, Haas Ferrari, 1:38.173.
20. Nicholas Latifi, Canada, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.443.
Continental champions
Best Asian Player: Massaki Todokoro (Japan)
Best European Player: Adam Wardzinski (Poland)
Best North & Central American Player: DJ Jackson (United States)
Best African Player: Walter Dos Santos (Angola)
Best Oceanian Player: Lee Ting (Australia)
Best South American Player: Gabriel De Sousa (Brazil)
Best Asian Federation: Saudi Jiu-Jitsu Federation
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
How it works
A $10 hand-powered LED light and battery bank
Device is operated by hand cranking it at any time during the day or night
The charge is stored inside a battery
The ratio is that for every minute you crank, it provides 10 minutes light on the brightest mode
A full hand wound charge is of 16.5minutes
This gives 1.1 hours of light on high mode or 2.5 hours of light on low mode
When more light is needed, it can be recharged by winding again
The larger version costs between $18-20 and generates more than 15 hours of light with a 45-minute charge
No limit on how many times you can charge
Company%C2%A0profile
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
