If you rummaged around for a description of the young Emirati women playing in the nascent Abu Dhabi Football League, you might start by presuming them innately gutsy.
After all, from the days of the makeshift matches of single-digit ages, these poised, polished university graduates freshly into the workforce demonstrated a sort of hard-wired inner fibre necessary to get in there and roughhouse in the boy-dominated games starring brothers and cousins.
Or, as Mariam al Omaira put it: "I was never really a Barbie girl."
Al Omaira, 25, started at maybe age seven. For Hemyan Khalid al Meraikhi, 23, it began at nine or 10. Azza al Kaabi, 23, really got going at 12 with an Abu Dhabi ladies' football club, but before that she mixed it up with brothers and cousins.
In al Kaabi's games, maybe two other girls would join. In al Meraikhi's, there would be one other girl, a cousin, and the boys would pick her first because of her goalkeeping prowess.
"We were the last to be picked," she said. "We were kids. But they did like us. They wanted us to play."
The matches of al Omaira's childhood days happened "right in front of my grandmother's house". They took place on the street. The children used shoes as goalposts. They bought balls from grocery stores until they started getting them from sports shops.
"At first," al Omaira wrote in an e-mail after an interview, "they thought I would let them get past me without tackling because I'm too scared to break a leg. But then I sort of started pushing them around and they got the point. On the other hand, I'd sometimes use the girly side to win penalties and fouls."
In time, she said, "They didn't treat me gingerly. I was, like, part of the team."
As a child of the 20th century zooming into the 21st, her fascination with football sprouted with a familiar flashpoint: the 1990 World Cup held in Italy and featuring the UAE. It continued with the Atari video games that would make her rapt as her older brothers played. It grew further with Japanese cartoons heavy on football and reached full blossom with a sustained affinity towards Spain born at the 1998 World Cup in France and, then, the natural gravitation toward the Barcelona club.
From all of that, she said, "The ball has been my best friend."
As al Meraikhi put it, "It was always a thing for me", but of course, early childhood ends, so she went on to high school where she stopped playing football with boys at 13 and took up the game offered then to girls, basketball.
"I did play because I'm athletic," she said. "I loved it for a while, but my passion …"
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Really, though, a broader set of words might be appropriate, so you might call these particular human beings unusually industrious.
After all, they knew football had taken up residence in their bloodstreams and they knew they did not want to stop even after playing with the newly formed team at Zayed University that included al Kaabi and al Meraikhi.
They knew that, in al Kaabi's case, "I like building a bond between players and I like the football itself, the rules, how it's played, everything." In al Omaira's case, "I think for me it's the excitement of scoring, the excitement of dribbling past people and keeping the ball attached to you. It's not really that easy. And, at the end of the day, it's a team sport. I love working with people and football is about working with people and trusting one another."
So they did not sit and pine away.
Al Kaabi and al Meriakhi can tell you of latter days at Zayed University energetically assembling all the parts necessary for a five-nation women's university football tournament that took place last October. A bank account. Money raised for charity. "Fifteen teams to play, referees, everything," al Kaabi said.
Al Omaira can tell of large daydreams that maybe no listener really bought - "I was always defending women's football" - except that in late 2009 she met the chief executive of Reem Investments, Bambang bin Kajairi, and through him she met Eric Gottschalk at Mediapro Middle East, and through him she found an apt venue for this newborn women's league.
"The logistics were there, because it's covered," she said.
Born on January 26, the Abu Dhabi Football League plays inside the Dome at Rawdhat. It features eight teams, including Team Abu Dhabi, Team Tigers, Dubai Ladies Club, Storm and Reem Developers.
"Before, girls weren't playing soccer, now they play more," al Kaabi said. "Why? Because we are being supported as much as we can. We are encouraging ourselves, making tournaments … They're loving it. They're enjoying the fun. They're coming more to play it. Of course within our standards, our traditions. They wouldn't be on TV and stuff."
You might call them pioneering, because they run (and dribble) around the forefront of one of the changes in the generations, tilting toward seeing women in sports as a matter of health.
"My father was always very supportive," al Kaabi said. "He's a sportsman. He's a chief of the Officer's Club … My father always supports me by giving me a place to play. He makes everything easy for me."
Her mother played volleyball, goes to the gym, or walks the beach with Azza's father.
Otherwise, parental concerns usually involved injury, musculature, injury, social stigma and injury. "They have to understand that women play differently," al Meraikhi said. "They say, 'It's a tough game. You'll get hurt. You'll be injured.' They hear a lot of injuries for the men and they expect the same. That was the major concern. But they also say, 'What will people think? The society won't accept it.'
"But now they know more of the girls are playing."
Said al Omaira, smiling, "I still get from my Mom, 'Oh, you're going to be too muscular.' … But they're trying to be supportive."
Said al Meraikhi, "Our parents are now kind of supportive. They ask if we won. So it's a little different."
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Still, when seeking a proper description, you probably have to seek wider parlance. You probably have to branch out beyond football or sport to the distinctive feeling you get when talking to these unlikely footballers. It is a feeling not completely dissimilar from what people describe around Nawal el Moutawakel, the Moroccan hurdler from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics who became the first Arab woman to win a gold medal, and who appeared in Abu Dhabi last week for the Laureus Awards.
That feeling would be hard to describe.
There is a sense of it when al Omaira says, "I think this is like a pilot study and the more people hear about it, the more girls are going to be interested. I'm hoping it's going to change the idea of how parents" will think about sport and daughters.
An inkling comes when al Meraikhi talks about how high schools are forming girls' teams now, and when she says, "It is changing a lot because when I first started football there were only two teams. They had a team in Abu Dhabi and a team in Dubai."
Or it's there in her enthusiasm when saying, "The league here is the first league for women. We've been getting calls. My friends have been calling. They want to join."
And: "I'm having high hopes." And, most tellingly: "I've seen it change."
You sense it when al Omaira says her father is "really proud," or when she describes the level of talent as vastly improved over recent years - "They all have the skills" - or when she says of her family and friends, "They're excited. They're like, 'OK, I can't believe you're really doing this.' They remember me saying, 'Oh, I want to do something about it. I want to do something for football here in Abu Dhabi.' So for it to be happening, it's a real achievement."
In turn and by sheer contagion, she said, she has tried to coax her mother onto the treadmill and, in turn, "She has been doing that every morning. She goes on for 45 minutes."And the aura that perhaps best describes these women, you definitely grasp when al Meraikhi looks back across the years a bit and states one reason she has been able to keep on playing: "Because I insisted," she said. "The girls now insist. It's melting away a lot."
Or maybe it is best to relate the story of al Omaira's recent trip to Camp Nou to watch her beloved Barcelona. She and two friends secured three tickets, and those tickets happened to be right up front. "We were soooooo close to the field," she wrote, "that we felt we're a part of the team."
To her, here in the 21st century, "watching these big stars and following teams and all makes me want to be a better footballer. I try to learn from them. Football is a big part of who I am; I watch it, I play it, I breathe it and I definitely try to get as many girls interested as possible."
That happened to be the night of el clasico, the night of last November 29, the night Barcelona annihilated Real Madrid 5-0, and the singing never did stop from 1-0 on, and the people sang hosannas in the streets to the manager Pep Guardiola.
Yet as al Omaira describes this all vividly, one passage might give the best sense of the feeling.
As she described her excellent seats and her proximity to the action, she wrote: "The temptation to jump in killed me."
So the best way to describe these women might be that they are uncommonly alive.
HAJJAN
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Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041mm%20%E2%80%93%20352%20x%20430%3B%2045mm%20%E2%80%93%20396%20x%20484%3B%20always-on%20Retina%20LTPO%20OLED%2C%202000%20nits%20max%3B%20Ion-X%20glass%20(aluminium%20cases)%2C%20sapphire%20crystal%20(stainless%20steel%20cases)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20S9%2064-bit%2C%20W3%20wireless%2C%202nd-gen%20Ultra%20Wideband%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECapacity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2064GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPlatform%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20watchOS%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EHealth%20metrics%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Blood%20oxygen%20sensor%2C%20electrical%20heart%20sensor%20and%20ECG%2C%203rd-gen%20optical%20heart%20sensor%2C%20high%20and%20low%20heart%20rate%20notifications%2C%20irregular%20rhythm%20notifications%2C%20sleep%20stages%2C%20temperature%20sensing%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmergency%20services%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Emergency%20SOS%2C%20international%20emergency%20calling%2C%20crash%20detection%2C%20fall%20detection%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GPS%2FGPS%20%2B%20cellular%3B%20Wi-Fi%2C%20LTE%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%2C%20NFC%20(Apple%20Pay)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDurability%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20IP6X%2C%20water%20resistant%20up%20to%2050m%2C%20dust%20resistant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20308mAh%20Li-ion%2C%20up%20to%2018h%20regular%2F36h%20low%20power%3B%20wireless%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECards%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20eSIM%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinishes%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Aluminium%20%E2%80%93%20midnight%2C%20pink%2C%20Product%20Red%2C%20silver%2C%20starlight%3B%20stainless%20steel%20%E2%80%93%20gold%2C%20graphite%2C%20silver%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Watch%20Series%209%2C%20woven%20magnetic-to-USB-C%20charging%20cable%2C%20band%2Floop%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Starts%20at%20Dh1%2C599%20(41mm)%20%2F%20Dh1%2C719%20(45mm)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
Essentials
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Seattle from Dh6,755 return in economy and Dh24,775 in business class.
The cruise
UnCruise Adventures offers a variety of small-ship cruises in Alaska and around the world. A 14-day Alaska’s Inside Passage and San Juans Cruise from Seattle to Juneau or reverse costs from $4,695 (Dh17,246), including accommodation, food and most activities. Trips in 2019 start in April and run until September.
US Industrial Market figures, Q1 2017
Vacancy Rate 5.4%
Markets With Positive Absorption 85.7 per cent
New Supply 55 million sq ft
New Supply to Inventory 0.4 per cent
Under Construction 198.2 million sq ft
(Source: Colliers)
HOW%20TO%20ACTIVATE%20THE%20GEMINI%20SHORTCUT%20ON%20CHROME%20CANARY
%3Cp%3E1.%20Go%20to%20%3Cstrong%3Echrome%3A%2F%2Fflags%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20Find%20and%20enable%20%3Cstrong%3EExpansion%20pack%20for%20the%20Site%20Search%20starter%20pack%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E3.%20Restart%20Chrome%20Canary%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E4.%20Go%20to%20%3Cstrong%3Echrome%3A%2F%2Fsettings%2FsearchEngines%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20in%20the%20address%20bar%20and%20find%20the%20%3Cstrong%3EChat%20with%20Gemini%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20shortcut%20under%20%3Cstrong%3ESite%20Search%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E5.%20Open%20a%20new%20tab%20and%20type%20%40%20to%20see%20the%20Chat%20with%20Gemini%20shortcut%20along%20with%20other%20Omnibox%20shortcuts%20to%20search%20tabs%2C%20history%20and%20bookmarks%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Saturday's schedule at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 race, 12:30pm
Formula 1 final practice, 2pm
Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm
Formula 2 race, 6:40pm
Performance: Sam Smith
How to help
Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.
Account name: Dar Al Ber Society
Account Number: 11 530 734
IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734
Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
THE SPECS – Honda CR-V Touring AWD
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Power: 184hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 244Nm at 3,900rpm
Transmission: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
0-100kmh in 9.4 seconds
Top speed: 202kmh
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
Price: From Dh122,900
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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.”
Quick%20facts
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EStorstockholms%20Lokaltrafik%20(SL)%20offers%20free%20guided%20tours%20of%20art%20in%20the%20metro%20and%20at%20the%20stations%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EThe%20tours%20are%20free%20of%20charge%3B%20all%20you%20need%20is%20a%20valid%20SL%20ticket%2C%20for%20which%20a%20single%20journey%20(valid%20for%2075%20minutes)%20costs%2039%20Swedish%20krone%20(%243.75)%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ETravel%20cards%20for%20unlimited%20journeys%20are%20priced%20at%20165%20Swedish%20krone%20for%2024%20hours%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAvoid%20rush%20hour%20%E2%80%93%20between%209.30%20am%20and%204.30%20pm%20%E2%80%93%20to%20explore%20the%20artwork%20at%20leisure%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
Four tips to secure IoT networks
Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:
- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version
- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number
- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently
- Always create a different guest network for visitors
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
