The UAE junior jiu-jitsu team is competing in California this week. Photo: Zachary Patton for The National
The UAE junior jiu-jitsu team is competing in California this week. Photo: Zachary Patton for The National

California dreaming



The 48 young competitors from the UAE who are in Los Angeles for the American National Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championship this week will be facing a two-fold challenge: their opponents and also jet lag from the 11-hour time difference. But, as The National reported yesterday, no matter what happens in the two-day tournament, the UAE team – all aged between 10 and 16, including seven girls – will emerge stronger from having experienced international competition.

Newcomers to the UAE are often surprised that this Brazilian martial art is a prominent sport, but jiu-jitsu has several factors in its favour. One is that it is an indoor sport, so it can be played all year despite the enervating heat of Gulf summers. Another is that with an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 jiu-jitsu practitioners worldwide, it is a sport in which a small country like the UAE can specialise and make its mark.

There is a long history of this kind of sporting specialisation. Australia gave priority to swimming as a sport and reaped the rewards at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, winning five gold medals in the pool. In a similar way, Singapore specialised in table tennis, Britain in cycling and Malaysia in badminton. We can hope the experience gained in Los Angeles will lead to international success for this new generation of UAE athletes.

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How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?

If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.

Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.

Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.

Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).

Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal. 

Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.

By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.

As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.

Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.

He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.” 

This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”

Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.