A self-taught kitesurfing champion who battled back from serious injury to rule the waves has sent out a rallying cry to fellow Emiratis to take up the sport.
Dubai resident Mohammed Al Mansoori was in a coma for a month and faced years of painstaking rehabilitation when he shattered both of his legs in a biking accident at the age of 18 in 1999.
Before, Mr Al Mansoori was a football player at a local club and a runner. He practised extreme sports like parkour and pulled stunts on skateboards and rollerblades.
His energetic, thrill-seeking lifestyle was brought crashing down in an instant, leaving him with a fight to walk again.
“The accident left me in a coma for around a month, but when I woke up I could not walk for years. I was new to biking – I had just been practising for one month when I had the accident,” said Mr Al Mansoori, now 40.
“There were so many broken bones in my legs and injuries to my face and body."
After several years of surgery and plenty of hard work, he got back on his feet – and then onto a board.
"I don’t remember what my thoughts were at the time, but I definitely never thought I would become the UAE’s kitesurfing champion.
My dream is to become the Gulf champion
“Before the accident I wanted to become the best football player in the world, that was my goal; but now I assure you that God took what I loved the most from me, football, and gave me something better.”
While on the long road to recovery, Mr Al Mansoori said he happened upon kitesurfing by coincidence.
“I couldn’t drive, so I used to ask my driver to take me to the beach, and there I used to watch the kitesurfers.
“I did not know much about the sport. I just enjoyed watching them.”
The joy turned into a fierce passion, and, as soon as he could walk again, Mr Al Mansoori bought a kiteboard and went to the beach.
“I wasn’t walking well yet, so I couldn’t enter the water. I just trained on the sand for four months.
“I asked the other surfers for safety instructions, and I taught myself from Youtube videos.
“I tried to go down in the water slowly, because it was still difficult for me to jump.
“Then, I started following international champions on the internet to learn how they do it.
"I fell in love with the sport because it involves a lot of high jumps, and I was always fond of extreme sports”.
His friends, already well-versed in kitesurfing, would challenge him whenever they saw him at the beach.
“So I started to learn new moves, to challenge them back.”
He started to take the sport more seriously when a friend called on him to put his skills to the test in a championship event in Al Mirfa in 2014.
“He said he would beat me, and I ended up beating him, and all the local guys who were competing," said Mr Al Mansoori. "This was my first competition.”
The following year, he took part in Red Bull’s kitesurfing championship in Bahrain and finished in second place.
Since then, he has toppled the best Emirati kitesurfers in a number of local championships, and claimed victory in the Qatar Open Kiteboarding championship in 2015 and 2016.
However, he said he still has many objectives.
“My dream is to become the Gulf champion, but there is no GCC championship yet. There are separate competitions in some countries," he said.
“I wish for more Emiratis to practice the sport, so we can have a stronger presence and start more regional leagues.
“And I just want them [young Emiratis] to try it, because it is the best sport I have ever tried and they will never understand what I mean until they try it themselves.”
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Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
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Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
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Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
How to wear a kandura
Dos
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- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Stage 3 results
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 4:42:33
2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:03
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General Classification after Stage 3:
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 12:30:02
2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
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UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
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More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
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Transmission: 9-speed auto
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
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MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
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Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
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Emergency
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Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
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500 People from Gaza enter France
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
