Nasser al Dhari always loved horses. He owns one himself and is intrigued by them. But he had never heard about a sport that went by the name of "polo".
That was in 1997, when al Dhari was a strapping lad of 23. A meeting with Sheikh Falah bin Zayed, however, changed all that.
Ignorance of polo turned into a fascination after Sheikh Falah, the patron of Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club, saw a potential player in the tall young man.
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Also
• Ghantoot primed for President of the UAE Cup after British Army win
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"When I met Sheikh Falah bin Zayed for the first time, he said, 'You are tall and have a good body, what do you think about playing polo?'" al Dhari said.
"I did not know anything about polo before. Nothing. So I said, 'What is polo?' He told me about it and said, 'If you would like to play, we will send you to learn polo.'"
Al Dhari said he was interested in the game, and a few weeks later he landed in London at Ham Polo Club, one of the premier polo clubs. When he returned home, after two months, he was well-versed in the nuances of the sport and knew much more about horses.
"Before that, I loved swimming and going to the gym," he said. "I had a horse in the house and I loved horses. I felt very close to horses.
"Sheikh Falah sent me to England and I started learning about polo there. I found a good teacher there; his name was Tim Healy. He taught me from zero because I did not know about polo and horses. He taught how I have to know about my horse.
"In this sport, it is very important to know about your horse. If you don't know, it is a problem. If your horse is lame and you continue playing, you will aggravate her injury.
"If you know your horse, you will know when she is lame and you will stop immediately. The horse will then return in a week or two to polo.
"But if you continue playing when she is lame, when you don't know anything about the horse, she will stop for six or seven months.
"So after the two months in London, I learnt everything about the horse."
To hone his skills further, al Dhari travelled to Argentina, where the sport is very popular. The South America country boasts some of the best professionals in the sport.
"I played a few small tournaments in Argentina and I saw that the difference between polo here in the UAE and in Argentina is not that much," he said.
"There is a little bit of difference because the players from Argentina are the best in the world.
"If you are not a good player, you cannot touch the ball there. You have to work a lot to touch the ball. In Argentina the game is fast, not like here."
Al Dhari will be playing alongside an Argentine, Hugo Alberto Barabucci, in the coming days, hoping to capture the championship at the President of the UAE Cup, which starts today with four teams battling for a place in the final on April 1.
Al Dhari and Barabucci will be flying the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank flag at the prestigious season-closing tournament, and they will be testing their skills against the teams representing Ghantoot, Al Basti and Tom Ford.
"It is going to be a good tournament," al Dhari said.
"The President's Cup is an important tournament. All the teams have good players, with professionals from Argentina. Any team that does not play good will go out.
"We have a very good chance. I will play alongside [Barabucci], the best professional in the club. I hope to play good and help him, and win the title."
Al Dhari was on the winning team in his last tournament, scoring a goal for Al Basti as they narrowly defeated Ghantoot to win the Golden Cup in January.
The Emirati has plenty of other trophies at home, too, but his most cherished is the 1999 triumph at St Moritz in Switzerland, which he won playing in the snow.
"Winning in St Moritz is of course my best moment," he said. "I played in this tournament for the first time in my life and we won the cup. We sent the horses to Italy two weeks before the tournament because the weather is very different.
"It is too cold and the temperature was about-18°C. We played one leg in Italy, in the snow, and after that we went to Switzerland.
"You have to be careful in the snow. They put special shoes on the horse and sometimes the horses slip."
Al Dhari is pleased to see the growth of polo in the country in the years since he stumbled upon the sport.
"When we first started polo here in the UAE, the people did not know anything about polo," he said.
"They did not know the rules or anything. But now the people like polo because they know the rules, they see polo on TV.
"So I believe more people like polo now."
arizvi@thenational.ae
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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