The coronavirus pandemic caused havoc on the cultural and sporting calendar this year. Here's how several prominent local, regional and international events plan to get back up and running in 2021
Abu Dhabi T10
The fourth season of the 10-over cricket tournament was scheduled to run in November. It might reasonably have gone ahead, were it not for significant rejigs to cricket's calendar elsewhere, including the IPL and the PSL. As such, the organisers took the decision to reschedule to January 28 to February 6, 2021.
Academy Awards
While the 2020 Academy Awards went ahead unscathed, the same isn't true for next year's ceremony. Postponed from its usual February date, the ceremony is now slated to take place on Sunday, April 25, and will be held as a traditional in-person telecast. The postponement has also pushed the deadline for filmmakers to submit their films to February 28.
Art Dubai
One of the UAE's top art events of the year, Art Dubai was caught in the first wave of cancelled events in 2020, with its 14th event slated for mid-March. This month, Art Dubai announced its programme for the 2021 event, which will be one of the first in-person fairs to be held since the pandemic began. Around 86 galleries are already on the list to display works, and fair organisers plan to scatter activities across Dubai's art spaces.
Cannes Film Festival
Organisers announced in March that the film festival would be postponed, before cancelling the 2020 festival all together. The next Cannes is scheduled to take place in May 2021. Organisers have said they intend the festival to run as planned, although there is a chance that it will be staged later in the summer.
Dubai Rugby Sevens
The Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens was cancelled for the first time in its 51-year history in 2020. It was announced in July that the first two legs of the World Sevens Series, in Dubai and Cape Town, would not go ahead. Plans for a local invitational tournament were also later scuppered. The event is expected to return at the end of 2021. “We look forward to welcoming the world of rugby sevens back to The Sevens Stadium in Dubai,” Tom Burwell, the tournament director, said.
Euro 2020
The 16th football European Championship, commonly known as Euro 2020, was originally scheduled to take place from June 12-July 12, 2020, across 12 cities on the continent. In June it was agreed to restage the tournament the following year, to be held from June 11-July 11, 2021, while still being called Euro 2020. Rome's Stadio Olimpico will host the opening match, while Wembley, England's national stadium, will stage both semi-finals and the final.
Expo 2020 Dubai
Perhaps the most anticipated event of this year across the Emirates was Expo 2020 Dubai. Four years in the making, Dubai was well on track to deliver a spectacular six-month international event. Once it became clear it would not be safe to host the event, the expo was postponed until October 2021. More than 190 countries are still due to take part with Dubai preparing to welcome millions of visitors.
Organisers said the postponement would only strengthen the event.
“I assure you that the UAE is absolutely ready to deliver a world-class event whatever the size of our physical and online audience," said Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Co-operation and director general of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau. “After all see, how far we have come ... since Covid-19 became recognised as a global pandemic."
Expo 2020 Dubai will be held at the Dubai South site from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.
Glastonbury
In early March 2020, festival organisers made the decision to pull the plug on its milestone 50th anniversary celebrations, which were due to take place between June 25 and 29 and feature a bumper bill of more than 1,000 acts. Glastonbury's cancellation was a bellwether for the decimated live music industry, which saw other key events such as Coachella and the Montreux Jazz Festival called off in April and June respectively. It is not yet clear whether the June 2021 festival will go ahead as planned.
International Defence Exhibition and Conference, Idex
From armoured vehicles to reconnaissance drones, the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (Idex) is where billions of dirhams worth of contracts for military technologies are signed. More than 1,300 exhibitors are due to take part in next year's event, which will be held partly online and with safety measures in place. It will be staged from February 21 to 25 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
Met Gala 2021
Every year, fashion history is made on the sweeping stairs of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Organised by Anna Wintour, the annual Met Gala takes place on the first Monday of May, and sees the world’s most stylish celebrities converge for a fundraising event. Originally scheduled to take place on Monday, May 4, the Met Gala 2020 was postponed indefinitely on March 16, due to increasing public health concerns over the spread of Covid-19, and then cancelled in May. Met Gala 2021 is scheduled for May 3, but a theme has yet to be confirmed.
Ryder Cup
With the sporting calendar thrown into disarray, in April it was announced that golf's Ryder Cup would remain in its September 25-27 berth. From there, debate raged as to whether the 43rd edition of the biennial tournament, to take place at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, should go ahead even without fans in attendance. Eventually, it was pushed back in June to September 24-26, 2021.
T20 World Cup
Men’s cricket will have three World Cups in the space of three years from 2021 to 2023. The decision was taken in July to postpone the 2020 T20 World Cup, which had been scheduled to be played in October and November in Australia. The 2021 version will go ahead in India, as was planned, with the 20-over event returning a year later to Australia. The following year, the 50-over World Cup will take place, also in India.
Tokyo Olympics
The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed for a year as the pandemic took grip, and are now scheduled to run from Friday, July 21, to Sunday, August 8. Discussions are ongoing about whether spectators will be allowed to attend.
Organisers will spend $900 million on measures to stop the spread of the virus, and John Coates, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee, is calling them the "Games that conquered Covid". The IOC maintained they will not delay the Games beyond 2021.
Venice Biennale
The schedules for the Venice Architecture Biennale and the revered art exhibition were postponed to 2021 and 2022 respectively due to the pandemic. Meant to open in May this year, the architecture exhibition was first rescheduled to August. As the Covid-19 situation in Italy and around the world worsened in the subsequent months, however, the organisation behind the shows decided to push both international events by a year. The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will now take place in May 2021, while the 59th International Art Exhibition is scheduled for April 2022.
Wimbledon
For the first time since the Second World War, the Wimbledon Championships were cancelled during a professional tennis season that was severely disrupted, with the sport going into shutdown between March and the end of August. Financially, though, Wimbledon did not suffer too significantly, having paid pandemic insurance for the past 17 years and reportedly received a payout of approximately $141 million. It was the only one of the four majors to take out such protection. The Championships will be back in 2021 in its usual end of June slot.
World Government Summit
This year's World Government Summit was set to take place in Dubai in November, during Expo. It was due to be the largest gathering yet with more than 10,000 high-profile officials and hundreds of experts and scholars expected to attend. When the Expo was postponed, the summit was moved online and held in December. The dates for next year's event have yet to be announced and organisers are still to decide if it will be held virtually or in-person. Typically held in the final few months of the year, and with vaccination programmes under way across several countries, it is likely the summit will have a physical presence next year.
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Year in review
80 stars we lost in 2020
Women of the year: female forces that shaped 2020
The National's international stories of 2020
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 640hp
Torque: 760nm
On sale: 2026
Price: Not announced yet
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Schedule:
Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)
Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four
Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)
Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 28: Final (Dubai)
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
The biog
Favourite books: 'Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life' by Jane D. Mathews and ‘The Moment of Lift’ by Melinda Gates
Favourite travel destination: Greece, a blend of ancient history and captivating nature. It always has given me a sense of joy, endless possibilities, positive energy and wonderful people that make you feel at home.
Favourite pastime: travelling and experiencing different cultures across the globe.
Favourite quote: “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders” - Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
Favourite Movie: Mona Lisa Smile
Favourite Author: Kahlil Gibran
Favourite Artist: Meryl Streep
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
The specs: Audi e-tron
Price, base: From Dh325,000 (estimate)
Engine: Twin electric motors and 95kWh battery pack
Transmission: Single-speed auto
Power: 408hp
Torque: 664Nm
Range: 400 kilometres
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Honeymoonish
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'Nope'
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Racecard
6.35pm: American Business Council – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm: British Business Group – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.45pm: CCI France UAE – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
8.20pm: Czech Business Council – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,400m
8.55pm: Netherlands Business Council – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
9.30pm: Indian Business and Professional Council – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,200m
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.