Olympic archery success is all in a smile for Turkey's golden Gazoz

Turkey's newest Olympic gold medallist Mete Gazoz has a weapon even more deadly than his archer's bow - a beaming smile.

The 22-year-old claimed Turkey's first gold at these Tokyo Games last weekend by winning the individual men's title, before revealing his unusual superpower.

"Imagine you're in the Olympic final, drawing your bow and some dude behind you is grinning from ear to ear. I owe 80% of this medal to the smile," he told Reuters, a large gold medal around his slender neck.

Gazoz's gold was a Turkish first in archery, a sport where fierce concentration is the watchword and South Koreans usually monopolise the titles.

"At this level, there is virtually no difference between archers in terms of technical abilities," he explained. "It all comes down to mental durability and superiority.

"All athletes employ different tactics. Some like to shout, some like to wait until the end of the allowed time and keep their rival on the edge.

"Mine is being happy, showing how comfortable I am."

On Saturday, Gazoz faced Italy's former team Olympic champion Mauro Nespoli in the final, unleashing his secret weapon to triumph 6-4 and become the only non-South Korean archery champion at the Tokyo Games.

Turkey's Mete Gazoz competes in the men's individual eliminations.

"I was waiting for my turn behind my rival and I was just so happy. The gold medal is coming, I know, and I can't hide it," he laughed.

Slim-framed and bespectacled with a noticeable stammer when he talks, Gazoz stands out in an Olympic Village packed with muscle-bound swimmers and track athletes.

The 22-year-old, who was "born into" the sport as the son of a national champion archer, concedes that he is normally quite a nervous person.

"Not when I have the bowstring in my hand," he grinned. "That is my happy place in life. It's where I feel safest."

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.”

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