ABU DHABI // The foundations have been laid for the UAE to produce world class sports stars but the hard work has yet to be done, say international sportsmen.
While they say the UAE has some of the world's best facilities and high-profile international events, getting Emirati children to a point where they can compete against the world's best will take sustained dedication.
"To see the world's best players up close is something," said Jonathan Davies, himself a former Welsh rugby star and now a television commentator.
That is something on which the UAE is working hard. In golf alone, the Emirates Airline Invitational was held last week and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club finished yesterday. The Saadiyat Beach Classic charity tournament hosted by Gary Player tees off this morning.
The Yas Marina Circuit saw Sebastian Vettel win the Formula One drivers' championship in November. In sailing, Dubai held the Louis Vuitton Trophy, while next month some of the world's best tennis players will play in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Next year, the Volvo Ocean Race, described as the Everest of sailing, will stop off in Abu Dhabi. The capital will also have a boat competing in the race.
"There is nothing like sport to create adrenaline," said Davies. "Now the structure is in place for those kids to go into those sports. They have to start by maybe going into schools and creating facilities at grass-roots level."
There already is some grass-roots momentum. In December, Mubadala sponsored tennis in schools, a chance for children to pick up a racket for the first time.
The Manchester United Soccer in Schools camp is now up and running in the capital, helping thousands of children develop their football skills. And last year, a local team were runners-up in the international F1 in Schools programme, developing an F1 team, and designing and racing a wooden car.
"It's about striking a balance between raising awareness and getting children to participate," said Davies.
The Scottish rugby star Gavin Hastings said that while the facilities here were excellent, having the best of everything would not necessarily get results.
More important, he said, was practice. "You are not going to get there on talent alone, either in tennis, golf or any other global sport.
"The difference between somebody being very good and somebody being exceptional, I think, is down to the amount of work they put into it."
The Irish golfer Padraig Harrington, twice an Open champion, emphasised the need for children to learn to work as a team. "If you play on a team, you learn how to win and lose, and celebrate and commiserate. They get that sort of experience they need to bring in to one sport to go into full time," Harrington said.
Youngsters needed good competition too, he said. "First step is beating those around them. If you can beat those guys around you, you get on the international circuit. It starts off with best in your club, then city, then country, and that's how you progress."
Without stiff local competition, he said, young players were unlikely ever to win overseas.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) has tried hard to build the profile of golf in the UAE, domestically and internationally. Lawrence Franklin, the authority's director of strategy, said the major tournaments served to inspire young golfers.
"Investment in grass-roots player development is a key component of Abu Dhabi's longer-term goals, and it is something which is already bearing fruit," Mr Franklin said. One example of that, he said, was Khalid al Yousef, a 22-year-old Emirati who competed in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
"Whether it is through increasing access to enhanced training facilities, or by providing opportunities for young golfers to get involved in top-tier competitions or feeder events - such as the Abu Dhabi Junior Golf Championship - the future certainly looks bright for tomorrow's local golf stars," Mr Franklin said.
eharnan@thenational.ae
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
Company%20Profile
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The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
DC%20League%20of%20Super-Pets
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Bombshell
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie
Four out of five stars
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
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%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Shalash%3Cbr%3ETranslator%3A%20Luke%20Leafgren%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20352%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20And%20Other%20Stories%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Barings Bank
Barings, one of Britain’s oldest investment banks, was
founded in 1762 and operated for 233 years before it went bust after a trading
scandal.
Barings Bank collapsed in February 1995 following colossal
losses caused by rogue trader Nick Lesson.
Leeson gambled more than $1 billion in speculative trades,
wiping out the venerable merchant bank’s cash reserves.
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
liverpool youngsters
Ki-Jana Hoever
The only one of this squad to have scored for Liverpool, the versatile Dutchman impressed on his debut at Wolves in January. He can play right-back, centre-back or in midfield.
Herbie Kane
Not the most prominent H Kane in English football but a 21-year-old Bristolian who had a fine season on loan at Doncaster last year. He is an all-action midfielder.
Luis Longstaff
Signed from Newcastle but no relation to United’s brothers Sean and Matty, Luis is a winger. An England Under-16 international, he helped Liverpool win the FA Youth Cup last season.
Yasser Larouci
An 18-year-old Algerian-born winger who can also play as a left-back, Larouci did well on Liverpool’s pre-season tour until an awful tackle by a Sevilla player injured him.
Adam Lewis
Steven Gerrard is a fan of his fellow Scouser, who has been on Liverpool’s books since he was in the Under-6s, Lewis was a midfielder, but has been converted into a left-back.
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
Company%20profile
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 503bhp
Torque 443Nm
On sale now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
