At a dusty park in Nigeria, dozens of youths dodge goats and rusting cars to be the first on to crumbling courts built to replicate the side of the chapel at one of England's most elite public schools so that they can play the ancient game of Eton fives.
Introduced nearly a century ago by a former pupil of Eton College, this peculiar form of handball pulls in the crowds in impoverished Nigeria.
"An English schoolteacher may have brought the game here but Nigerians are the best now," said Usman Yusuf, a civil servant and local Eton fives favourite in the northern state of Katsina, where many people live on less than US$2 (Dh 7.34) a day.
"We love it. Every day after school we come here and fight to get on the court," said Yusuf, standing in front of crowds of barefooted schoolchildren shouting instructions to players dashing around graffiti-covered courts.
In England, the game is played mostly by former or current public schoolboys who wear custom-made, padded gloves to smash a hard ball around a three-sided walled court where it ricochets off ledges and steps reproduced in the mould of the original school ground.
Nigerians forgo the expense of gloves and make do with a tennis ball, but the court retains the obstacles and idiosyncrasies that make a simple game into a skilful sport.
"It looks simple, but it has subtle skills that take intelligence. This is why Nigerians are so good at it," said Umar Kabir, the secretary to the Emir of Katsina state.
"The Emir has a court in the palace and every evening he goes out to play.
"He still plays to win."
While the popularity of Eton fives peaked in Britain in the 19th century, hundreds of people attend competitive games in Nigeria, and matches in the annual Sardauna Cup are followed by dinners, cultural dances and speeches.
Eton fives has been exported across the world but while it never caught on in New Zealand, Nepal or Argentina, Nigeria embraced its "minutes-to-learn, years-to-master" attraction.
"Nigeria is a great example of how bashing a ball against a wall can have mass appeal ... Eton fives is just a very good version of what millions of kids do naturally at school," said John Reynolds, a former England national fives champion and runs a rare fives court construction company.
"It's now almost certainly more popular there than back in England. We can only dream of the crowds that state matches draw."
All students at Eton College -whose alumni include Britain's Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron, Belgian King Leopold III, James Bond author Ian Fleming and London Mayor Boris Johnson - have donned the gloves at some stage.
The ancient Egyptians played a form of fives, which is thought to refer to the number of fingers on your hand, as in "a bunch of fives", while today spin-offs like handball in the United States and pelota in parts of France and Spain are still popular.
The authors Aldous Huxley and James Joyce mention the game in their most famous works, and a recent biography of the former US president Abraham Lincoln said he was passing the time playing fives when he received the presidential nomination.
Whether it is the ancient heritage, the simplicity or the low-cost of a tennis ball, fives has stood the test of time in northern Nigeria since former Eton student JS Hogben introduced the game while teaching here in the 1920s.
"Some people here don't have much, but you can see how the children are when they play the game," Kabir said. "So we'll always keep the courts ready for them.
"Nigeria loves fives."
* Reuters
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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RESULTS
5pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner Thabet Al Reef, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Blue Diamond, Pat Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6.30pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Shoja’A Muscat, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Heros De Lagarde, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner Good Tidings, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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