Courage, they say, is nothing but grace under pressure. Every champion in the annals of sports has the gift of this endearing trait. It is an essential and gives the air of nobility for those few.
Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid has that quality in abundance. She may not be in the league of global champions as yet, but remains the UAE's last hope of a medal at the Beijing Games.
Drawn to face world champion Kyung-Seon Hwang in the opening round of her 67kg taekwondo competition at 6.15am this morning, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, did not flinch, even a little.
Sheikha Maitha was calm and confidence personified speaking to reporters in Beijing after the draw ceremony. "I'm very happy that I will face the best in the world. I'll give my best," said the 28-year-old royal.
Her poise may seem a bit misplaced to a few, but it is a reflection of the hard work that Sheikha Maitha has put in over the past few months.
She had camps with the Moroccan and Egyptian national teams, trained at one of China's most famous schools for taekwondo and worked out with Luo Wei, the 67kg gold medal winner at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 72kg world champion in 2007.
Sheikha Maitha even went to the home of taekwondo, spending 10 days in South Korea before returning to Beijing to carry the national flag at the opening ceremony.
Her confidence has rubbed off on her entourage of Ziad Hammad, Samir Jumaa and Moena Jadeed, who pointed out the irrelevance of the draws, citing the upsets galore in the other weight categories of the competition.
"Maitha is ready," Jadeed said. "It will be a tough match, but I'm sure she will do well."
Sheikha Maitha learned martial arts, including karate and kickboxing, from her father at an early age. She was a karate silver medallist at the 2006 Doha Asian games, but dreamed of competing in the Olympics in taekwondo, a sport which requires more concentration and hard work than karate.
"I started martial arts as a hobby, but now it has become my true dream," said Sheikha Maitha. "It's difficult at times, but I am proud and happy to contribute to my country through sports."
Should she beat the South Korean Hwang, the 2005 and 2007 world champion and the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, it will be a triumph of Sheikha Maitha's unyielding spirit and a massive boost for the sport in general.
It is not often that you will find a princess embrace the barefoot art of taekwondo.
To see how Sheikha Maitha fared in her opening bout visit www.thenational.ae/olympics
arizvi@thenational.ae
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The bio
Academics: Phd in strategic management in University of Wales
Number one caps: His best-seller caps are in shades of grey, blue, black and yellow
Reading: Is immersed in books on colours to understand more about the usage of different shades
Sport: Started playing polo two years ago. Helps him relax, plus he enjoys the speed and focus
Cars: Loves exotic cars and currently drives a Bentley Bentayga
Holiday: Favourite travel destinations are London and St Tropez
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
