If Adel al Hosani had been given a choice in the matter, he would not have moved into the first team with Al Wahda and then the UAE Olympic team because of injuries to the players ahead of him.
But to the 21-year-old goalkeeper's credit, he did not fail the test when teammates suffered misfortune and he was called upon to make the step up.
It happened first more than a year ago with Al Wahda, who went on to win the Pro League championship with al Hosani in goal. And now it has happened with the Under 23 team hoping to represent the country at the 2012 London Games.
"I want to be the first choice on merit," he said. "Injuries are not unusual in any sport, but I don't wish that to happen to any of my colleagues so I get an opportunity to play."
He got a sudden promotion at Wahda when the veteran Mutaz Abdulla, who was signed on a two-year contract from Al Ain, suffered a broken ankle in the first match of the 2009/10 season.
Al Hosani took over. Wahda lost only twice and conceded just 15 goals in 22 games on the way to their fourth championship.
That title made them the host team in the 2010 Club World Cup, and al Hosani was selected ahead of the veteran Abdulla, 36, as the first choice for all three of Wahda's matches in the Fifa event.
"What happened to Mutaz was very unfortunate and I don't wish that to happen to any player," al Hosani said.
He continued to play as the first choice for his club until late in the first half of the current season. In eight matches, he conceded 11 goals and had three clean sheets.
Abdulla was restored to No 1 in December when he regained full fitness, relegating al Hosani to the bench.
"As an understudy to Mutaz, I learnt a lot from his experience. Then the opportunity to play for the first team for almost the full season gave me the exposure that I needed," said al Hosani. "And my time in the club's first team was noticed by the national team selectors."
Al Hosani was a member of the Asian Games silver medal-winning team in China last November and has been picked as the first choice for the 2012 London Games qualifiers by Mahdi Ali, the Emirati coach.
But even this is tinged with regret for al Hosani. The chance came along when Yousuf Abdulrahman, the Al Ain keeper, the previous first-choice custodian for the Olympic team, was badly hurt in a car crash last year; he is still recovering from serious injuries.
"I don't wish such things to happen because Yousuf is a good friend of mine and I hope he recovers fast and plays football again," al Hosani said.
The Wahda shot-stopper travelled to the Asian Games as the back-up goalkeeper to Ali Kasheif, who was one of the three overage players and captain of that team.
"All those opportunities have helped me to learn more," al Hosani said.
"I have learnt a lot from Mutaz, Ali Kasheif and Yousuf, who have all readily provided me with valuable advice and encouragement.
"The competition for the same place in the team is very healthy. It makes one work harder.
"But injuries, particularly the nasty ones suffered by Mutaz and Yousuf, don't go down well for me. Mutaz has recovered and, quite honestly, I don't mind playing the secondary role to him in the club team and I wish Yousuf will get back soon."
Al Hosani's career began at the Al Wahda academy with his older brother, Ali. They are both goalkeepers but Adel won the race to play in the top flight. "I can't judge myself as the better goalkeeper but it seems I have won the battle over him for the bragging rights," the younger al Hosani said.
"There is no competition between us. He is also in the first team, and with Mutaz as the senior pro, we complement each other to have a strong presence in the goalkeeping department."
Khaled Awadh, a long-time member of the club's administration and now the deputy chief executive, said he has known the al Hosani bothers for more than 10 years.
"They have both come through the club's production lines," he said. "Adel obviously has impressed more than Ali, and that's why he has jumped ahead of his older brother in the pecking order.
"He was given an early start in the top-flight competition and has established his position in the first team."
Josef Hickersberger, the Wahda coach, has high regard for the youngster.
He said: "Adel has been outstanding the whole season. He was one of the key players for us to win the Pro League last season.
"He was called up for duty from the very first game and he got better and better as the season progressed.
"He is very young for a goalkeeper and if he continues the way he works, he has a bright future ahead of him."
Klaus Lindenberger, the former Austria international and a national team goalkeeper coach for the European championship side in 2008, shared similar sentiments.
He said: "He has very good technique, good reaction and anticipation. He just needs to improve on his positioning, which will come with a little bit of work and match experience."
Al Hosani admits he is still learning. And his willingness to push himself to greater heights has already seen him achieve much at a young age.
"There is no easy way to the top," he said. "I am always willing to learn from my coach and teammates and given the opportunities I have had, the strengths will prove useful in my career path in the years to come."
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MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Match info
Karnataka Tuskers 110-3
J Charles 35, M Pretorius 1-19, Z Khan 0-16
Deccan Gladiators 111-5 in 8.3 overs
K Pollard 45*, S Zadran 2-18
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Company%20profile
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West Indies v India - Third ODI
India 251-4 (50 overs)
Dhoni (78*), Rahane (72), Jadhav (40)
Cummins (2-56), Bishoo (1-38)
West Indies 158 (38.1 overs)
Mohammed (40), Powell (30), Hope (24)
Ashwin (3-28), Yadav (3-41), Pandya (2-32)
India won by 93 runs
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.”
Match info:
Leicester City 1
Ghezzal (63')
Liverpool 2
Mane (10'), Firmino (45')
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
Sting & Shaggy
44/876
(Interscope)
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
Summer special
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
