A team of 8-year-old footballers have come back from Britain with a silver medal a bronze medal - and the attention of professional scouts.
The Desert Rangers Under-9s, who play at the Soccer Circus in Mirdif City Centre, went to the UK last month to compete in two football tournaments - and their star player, Giorgio Dellesite, may have taken his first steps on the road to becoming a professional footballer.
"A scout from Liverpool [Football Club] was there and he was really impressed," said the team's coach, John Adetiba.
Giorgio, now 9, a defender from the UK, also caught the attention of a Fulham scout and will have a trial over the next few weeks.
The team, who went undefeated in 18 games last season in winning the Dubai Junior League, narrowly lost the final of the Arsenal International Soccer Festival in London to the Sutton Heath team. "They played fantastically well but lost to a fluke goal in the second from last minute. We just had enough time to get it back up to their end but then the whistle blew," Mr Adetiba said.
They had topped their group of six other teams to progress to the final.
The following week, the team went to Wales to play in the Welsh International Supercup 2011 tournament, where they finished third out of 12 teams.
They were beaten 1-0 by Cardiff City, who train five times a week in their home club's football academy and were, said Mr Adetiba, the equivalent of a professional team for 8-year-olds.
"With only two training sessions a week, we played very well against them," he said.
"The boys were happy with the result. It was their first international foray and lost to a very good team," he added.
eharnan@thenational.ae
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Racecard
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
The National selections
6.30pm: Chaddad
7.05pm: Down On Da Bayou
7.40pm: Mass Media
8.15pm: Rafal
8.50pm: Yulong Warrior
9.25pm: Chiefdom
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
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Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
