A unique gala called ‘Chill Out on the Bay’ is being planned by Ambitious Monte-Carlo in July, combining boxing with glamour and marking a comeback of the sport after the pandemic.
The English boxing gala will be held from 1st to 3rd July near Calvi, Corsica at the stunning Villa Plage. It includes boxing matches and an after-party with live DJ, followed by a “Barbeque of the Kings” on the final day.
Ambitious Monte-Carlo’s Romain Goiran says he decided to organise the gala as a way to ease back in to the sport after the constraints of the past year and a half due to the pandemic.
“Our job is to prepare the boxers to fight,” he said. “Considering the current situation, very few opportunities to fight have come to the table. So, it was evolve or close, and the natural evolution of working in boxing is having your own organisation.”
His other goal was to make boxing glamorous again. The organisers of the event want to change perceptions of boxing from a sport only for the underclasses to a sport that reclaims the glory days when people saw boxing as a gentlemen’s game.
“The reality is such that today’s public has become familiar with an idea of boxing, especially in France, that is not necessarily compatible with luxury,” said Romain Goiran. “The objective is to create an event concept around boxing capable of attracting other customers. Being a Monegasque resident, my event culture revolves around elitism. I think that French professional boxing today needs a new setting to survive the economic difficulties it is experiencing.”
Headlining the event is four-time world champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, who is eager to help make Goiran’s dream a reality.
“I’m 37-years-old and have stepped into the ring all over the world,” he said. “However, this concept of a gala where luxury and boxing are associated will be a first for me. It’s very exciting.”
Art and charity will also feature in the weekend, with pieces on display by artist Julien Marinetti. Some of the artist’s works will line the ring as well as the floor, taking the place of sponsors. After the match, the art will be cut out and sold at auction to benefit the Calvi Hospital.
Louis Ducruet is a sponsor of the event and says he is proud to back the concept. “It is very important for me to associate myself with those who wish to export Monegasque sport outside the borders of Monaco,” he said. “Combining such an event with the charity side, which I am very close to, strengthens the support I can bring to this great project.”
Ambitious Monte-Carlo is a boxing management agency based in Monaco. Their boxers represent the Monegasque colours in top-flight venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The iconic original superyacht Lady Moura has been sold after just a year and a half on the market for an eye-watering €105 million.
Camper & Nicholsons announced the in-house sale of Lady Moura on Friday evening. Listed exclusively with the company for 554 days, the sale represents the fastest known brokerage sale of a 100+ metre vessel in the last 10 years, as well as the largest yacht sale recorded by a brokerage house since 2019. Her asking price was €105 million (US $125 million).
“Camper & Nicholsons is extremely proud to deliver such an excellent result to the owner, who recognised in the company a combination of unrivalled heritage and industry-leading innovation that made it the only choice to entrust the sale of such a beloved yacht,” said Camper & Nicholsons in a statement.
The legendary 105m motor yacht was delivered by Blohm+Voss in 1990 and was presented to the market for the first time a year and a half ago. Throughout the decades, her annual arrival in Monaco heralded the start of the summer season. Lady Moura sails into Monaco
Lady Moura was the highly private vessel of Saudi Arabian businessman Nasser Al-Rashid and was built to host royalty and dignitaries, a family residence that became a point of reference in Monaco’s Port Hercules. Until her listing, she had never welcomed brokers or charter guests on board. Much detail about her Luigi Sturchio-styled interiors had remained a closely guarded secret.
Catapulted into the list of top 10 yachts in the world upon her delivery, she has been called the original superyacht: the beach club, the hydraulic fold-out balcony and the tender garage were among her pioneering features. Incredible interior volumes — her beam is 18.5m — and a seven-deck arrangement are just two of her stand-out features. Her listing on the brokerage market generated plenty of buzz. The saloon of the Lady Moura
“I am extremely pleased we achieved such a result and the timeframe in which we achieved it makes it even more exceptional. I would like to thank all the people involved, across our Marketing, CRM, Legal, Brokerage and Management departments as this was a truly joint effort that makes me so very proud to work for this company, with every single team member we have today,” said CEO Paolo Casani.
The sale was achieved by Sales Brokers Arne Ploch and Andrew LeBuhn representing the seller and Fernando Nicholson representing the undisclosed buyer.
“An iconic vessel that defines the world of gigayachting has been sold in-house and three very senior and experienced yacht brokers have been able to achieve one of the great successes in yachting in 2021 thanks to the dedication and organisation of all the departments of C&N, starting from the CEO down. This remarkable sale is thanks to truly solid and experienced teamwork,” sad Senior Sales Broker Fernando Nicholson.
Prince Albert has helped to release seven adolescent seahorses into the wild as part of a project to repopulate the quickly dwindling species.
It comes as the first conclusions of a new study about the seahorse population in Monegasque waters carried out by the Prince Albert II Foundation, the Oceanographic Museum and its Monegasque Centre for the Care of Marine Species (CMSEM), the BIOTOPE design office, along with expert in European seahorses Patrick Louisy have been released.
Seahorses are considered to be “near-threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. This status means the natural populations are in decline and could become extinct altogether if nothing is done to rectify the situation.
The study’s aim was to gain information about Monaco’s seahorses and their habitats, to determine the best course of action to protect them and to engage in relevant conservation activities.
Volunteer divers from the Monaco Underwater Exploration Centre spent 160 hours underwater between June and September 2020 in order to acquire as much data as possible. The divers confirmed the presence of seahorses, specifically the Hippocampus guttulatus commonly known as the speckled seahorse, but were able to observe only three of the species in the wild.
The speckled seahorse, which is named for the white dots that cover their bodies, live in seagrass beds or coralligenous, of which there are many ideal spots for breeding in the waters off the Principality.
A pregnant male was captured, and the resulting babies were temporarily reared in captivity to ensure their viability. Prior to their sea release, seven of the juvenile seahorses were tested for genetic diversity. This was to ensure they wouldn’t disrupt an already fragile recipient population. The findings were interesting in that the Monegasque variety had different genetic characteristics than other seahorses in the Mediterranean.
The young speckled seahorses, which will reach 12cm to 16cm when fully grown, were released on 16th June in the late morning at Saint Nicolas rocks and the Fontvieille dike in roughly 20 metres of water with the help of Prince Albert.
These juveniles and the existing population will now be monitored for five years via a photo-identification protocol, allowing animals to be identified from their individual natural markings. The photos will serve as a visual, with complementary observations such as passive acoustics and environmental DNA being used.
Passive acoustics is a sound process that makes it possible to monitor the attendance of a site by a given species. Environmental DNA makes it possible to study the presence of a species thanks to the DNA it leaves in its environment. These tools will make it possible to track their seasonal movements and better understand their habitats.
Photos by E. Mathon – Palais Princier, P. Fitte – Musée Océanographique, and M. Dagnino – Musée Océanographique
"The thrills, spills, hits and speed will make Monaco a huge success"
As a former rugby sevens player for Wales, Mark Thomas gives his take on this weekend’s World Rugby Sevens Repechage and revisits Monaco’s love affair with the sport.
Monaco, for most sports fans, is associated with Formula 1 and the Rolex Tennis Masters. But many do not know that Monaco has a long-standing love affair with rugby that dates back many decades.
This weekend from 18th to 20th June, the Monaco Rugby Federation and World Rugby, in partnership with the Government, are organising the World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament at the Louis II Stadium.
Monaco will be hosting the international men’s and women’s sevens teams competing for the final Tokyo Olympic Games qualification places. For the women, the two best teams will secure a spot in Tokyo, but only one of the men’s teams will be lucky enough to head to Japan.
The pressure will be huge. Win in Monaco and you become an Olympian, the Holy Grail for many athletes. Additionally, organisers have confirmed that 5,000 fans will be able to watch the Olympic Games Sevens on the two main days of competition at the stadium so there should be a great atmosphere and the forecast is for fine weather. Louis II Stadium in Monaco Where it all began
Back in 1987 and 1988, Monaco hosted their first international rugby sevens event, the Glenlivet Invitational Sevens, where superstars like Serge Blanco and Denis Charvet won with France in 1987 and then Nick Farr Jones, Murray Mexted and Will Carling won the trophy with the Bahrain Warblers in 1988.
I was fortunate to play for the Welsh team during those years and while we lost to the French in the final, I have very fond memories of the event. It is what motivated me to come to France to play rugby, and eventually to end up living in Monaco. They say sport changes the world. It certainly changed mine, and for that I shall ever be grateful to sevens rugby, which allowed me to travel as a young man and play all over the world in tournaments in 24 countries.
Rugby sevens originated in Melrose, Scotland as far back as the 1880s, and the Melrose Sevens tournament is still played annually today. The popularity of rugby sevens increased further with the development of the Hong Kong Sevens in the 1970s and was later followed by the inclusion of the sport into the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 1998 and the establishment of the annual World Rugby Sevens Series in 1999 and the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in 2012. In 2016, rugby sevens was contested in the Summer Olympics for the first time. The teams hoping to make it to Tokyo
Rugby sevens is expected to be one of the most highly anticipated events of the Tokyo Games following the outstanding success of the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, which captured the nation’s imagination with record-breaking broadcast audiences and huge numbers of new rugby fans across Japan and Asia. The inclusion of rugby sevens for the first time in the Olympic Games at Rio 2016 had a profound effect on the sport, attracting an estimated 30 million new fans globally.
The women’s competition will feature Argentina, Colombia, France, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Samoa and Tunisia. The men’s tournament will involve Chile, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The women’s final is expected to be a close affair, and the favourites – France v Samoa – should be a nail biter, but the Argentinians may have something to say about that.
The men’s draw saw the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series core teams, Samoa and Ireland, paired in Pool A together with Tonga, Zimbabwe and Mexico. France were the top seeded team based on their performances in 2020 at the World Rugby Sevens Series where they finished sixth. They are drawn in Pool B along with Hong Kong, Chile, Uganda and Jamaica. France being favoured to win, they will have to overcome the speedy Samoans, the tough Tongans and the wiry Irish. Prince Albert completed the draw for the World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament in Monaco, photo by Monaco Rugby Sevens
As World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “With Tokyo less than three months away, the rugby family is looking forward to what promises to be a special sevens tournament that personifies the togetherness, camaraderie and optimism that characterises these remarkable Olympic Games. The Monaco repechage is also symbolic in its own way – a reflection and celebration of sevens international re-emergence from the unprecedented challenges that society and sports people have faced.”
Given the Covid chaos globally, it has been extremely difficult to organise, but the drive to be in the Olympics has not deterred these teams from doing whatever it takes to get to Monaco to try to qualify. One of the potential qualifiers is Tonga. At the end of April, the Tonga Rugby Union announced that, due to quarantine rules in New Zealand, it would select a squad of European-based players to compete for the final men’s sevens spot at Tokyo. Viliami Vaki, the Tongan captain, said: “We have a playing group that are busting at the chops to get together, there’s nothing greater than playing for your country. That’s exciting because they are a level of player that have experienced different World Cups and professional competitions around the world.” Tonga could well be the dark horse in the men’s competition.
Hopeful Hong Kong Rugby coaches Paul John (winner of the RWC 7s with Wales in 2009) and Iain Monaghan, the two Celts charged with getting their respective teams to Tokyo, have been thinking outside of the box in a bid to keep things interesting. Monaghan revealed that he actually sent his players on a metaphorical journey around the world. “We shaped training around going up the seven summits of the world – Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Mount Vinson and the Carstensz Pyramid. Needless to say, I wasn’t the most liked coach at that time because they were worked, physically,” he said. “But with that it allowed us to learn about the different cultures of the teams we will play and where they come from, and the history of their sport.
“We set out tasks like passing the ball every day the equivalent distance it would take to climb one of the mountains, we camped out and learnt how to cook different national dishes, and learnt about tribes and their values and what makes them survive so long, and how we could maybe bring that into our high-performance environment… things that gave a different slant to training.”
Outsiders Uganda have been drawn alongside France, Chile, Hong Kong and Jamaica in Pool B of the men’s Olympic Repechage tournament, and have come up against Les Bleus twice at the Emirates Invitational Sevens in Dubai. The Cranes lost both matches against the French, but they have better records against the other teams they will play in Monaco. Uganda will arrive in the Principality on Sunday hoping to take the biggest step yet on the team’s journey under head coach Tolbert Onyango. Onyango is hopeful that his players are able to handle the pressure of playing in the tournament as they attempt to cause a few shocks and book their ticket to Tokyo.
“A knockout tournament normally comes with its own pressures,” said Onyango. “Pressure to perform properly throughout the tournament, so there’s no room for error — you snooze, you lose.”
Irish Rugby Football Union director of Sevens and Women’s rugby Anthony Eddy has selected an experienced group to travel to Monaco, with a dozen of the 14-man squad having featured on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series previously for Ireland, with the uncapped duo Gavin Mullin and Ulster flyer Aaron Sextoncompleting the panel.
“A number of players have been preparing for this tournament and opportunity for a number of years and they all know exactly what is at stake,” said Anthony Eddy. “I know they will be determined to be at their best and put in a performance over the weekend that they can be proud of. All the teams participating are chasing the same outcome so we must be at our best and we are looking forward to it.”
France expect both their men’s and women’s teams to qualify and “are craving qualification”, according to France Sevens Women’s coach David Courteix. However, as the old wolf of the sevens stage that he is, David Courteix knows only too well the cost of too much confidence. “We will go to Monaco to have a performance and this will allow us, I hope, to qualify for the Games. But everyone will want it too! Nobody thinks that it will be a secured qualification.”
That will mean being very opportunistic and overly optimistic, because if they win this tournament, they will have the green lights to challenge the teams at the Olympics and will arrive in full confidence with a huge craving.
"An absolute classic, finished off by Billy Dardis"@IrishRugby will be hoping for more moments like this at the Olympic Repechage in Monaco next week! pic.twitter.com/HQ2EdqArH2
For the winning teams, it will be even more beneficial since they have played a very high-level competition a month before, they will have had the necessary preparation to be able to be ready in Tokyo. As French men’s coach Jerome Daret put it – as a good connoisseur of sevens and French gastronomy, “We can put all the ingredients in there, but what is important is to make the recipe on the day.”
Samoa have both their women’s Manusina and men’s Manu Samoa teams competing and the two teams came close to qualifying for Rio 2016, as Manu Samoa lost the repechage final to Spain on the last play of the match, while the country’s women were beaten by Kazakhstan in their quarter-final. Brian Lima is manager of the team, a legend of four Rugby World Cups and known as “The Chiroporactor” because he hit you so hard in the tackle you’d have to go see the chiropractor after the game. In one World Cup, he tackled somebody so hard he knocked himself out.
“I want Samoans to come together in Samoa to celebrate if Manusina qualify for the Olympics,” he told World Rugby. “We are confident we have the best team who wants to qualify for the Olympics. Our players have international experience and they’ve played the best sevens teams in the world like Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.”
Their plans for Olympic qualification have been affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic like everybody and Samoa’s men were last in action at the HSBC Canada Sevens in March 2020 where they lost their ninth-place semi-final to France — who will arguably be their biggest rivals for qualification in Monaco. “Losing to Spain [in the Rio 2016 repechage final] was really heartbreaking, so that’s what kept most of us in, to just keep the Olympic dream alive to come back and really find any opportunity to be an Olympian.” Careers will be made in Monaco
The spectacular thing about sevens is that anyone can have the “flyer”, the player who has such breath-taking speed no-one can stop them, and the stadium comes alive in anticipation. The entertainment and enjoyment of a sevens event is fantastic. The thrills, the spills, the hits, the speed will delight the crowd and I am sure it will be a huge success like it was four years ago.
This weekend is bound to show us some new rugby stars of the future as the sevens circuit is where many of the greats started their career – rugby legends such us Jonah Lomu, David Campese, Christian Cullen, Lawrence Dallaglio, George North and Cheslin Kobi all started on the sevens circuit. If anybody knows anything about sevens, anything can happen on the day.
As for the final, my pick is France v Samoa. The winner? We will have to wait and see.
Top photo of former Wales rugby player Mark Thomas
Take a culinary journey to Italy at the Hôtel de Paris
Monaco continues to position itself as one of Europe’s leading gastronomic destinations, this time welcoming Italian Michelin-starred chef Andrea Berton for a pop-up restaurant at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo this summer.
Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer is pursuing its year of gastronomy to the delight of its guests. After the launch of the restaurant Yannick Alléno at the Hermitage Hotel Monte-Carlo, the launch of the Monte-Carlo Festival of Stars and the arrival of new chef Manon Fleury at Elsa at Monte-Carlo Beach, the time has come for the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo to create an event.
After the success of the 1st pop-up launched with Andrea Berton for the end of year celebrations in 2020, the Italian Michelin-starred chef is returning to the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo to offer the best of his cuisine with another pop-up restaurant from 6th July to 22nd August. The terrace restaurant at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo
One of Italy’s most decorated chefs, Andrea Berton learned his art in Milan, Florence, London, and in Monaco under Alain Ducasse at Louis XV. He has been awarded four Michelin stars throughout his 27-year career.
Chef Andrea Berton’s challenge with this second pop-up restaurant is to continue to surprise the palettes of fine diners by reinventing traditional Italian dishes with a large variety of flavours. Among the dishes on the menu this summer: squid tagliatelle with spicy tomato sauce and amaranth popcorn, and the chef’s own version of tiramisù.
His food can be enjoyed indoors amid décor designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon, or looking out to sea from the recently re-landscaped terrace garden of Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo.
As part of World Oceans Day, Tuesday 8th June, Monaco is once again educating sea users on how to report sightings of marine animals, particularly sea turtles, and how to help those in distress.
Organised by the Monegasque government and the Oceanographic Institute, the meeting is set to bring together around 40 sea users and aims to engage and encourage them to report any sightings of turtles and marine mammals. The data collected will make it possible to identify the species present in Monegasque waters, to better understand their behaviour, and contribute to the study and protection of ecosystems.
The first edition was organised in March 2019 during the opening of the Monegasque Centre for the Care of Marine Species (CMSEM) at the Oceanographic Museum.
Since then, more than 120 observations have been made including 119 loggerhead turtles and seven green turtles, documenting their age, state of health and travel habits. Observe, Report, Preserve
Sea users are invited to report all types of marine animals, from cetaceans to sharks, as well as any unusual situation such as waste or pollution.
Particular attention, however, is paid to sea turtles, and participants of the Monegasque meeting are educated on the rules of observation, as well as those for the intervention and handling of these animals when necessary. They are taught how to identify if a sea turtle is in distress, how to handle it in accordance with good practices, and how to notify the specialised networks.
They are also encouraged to share their observations on the digital platform OBSenMER, which is designed to be used by both professionals and the general public for the collection, saving and sharing of information.
The easy-to-use application allows users to enter the place of observation, date and time, as well as the type of animal that has been spotted.
The Oceanographic Museum is directly notified of each observation made via the platform, and the government is also made aware so it can better understand the biodiversity of Monegasque waters. Photo of the outdoor sea turtle rehabilitation tank at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco by Cassandra Tanti for Monaco Life
The observations are also added to the databases of structures such as the Network of French Mediterranean Sea Turtles (RTMMF), MIRACETI and ACCOBAMS to improve and strengthen knowledge of species.
The Monegasque Centre for the Care of Marine Species (CMSEM) at the Oceanographic Museum has a laboratory dedicated to the care of injured or sick animals, the reproduction and breeding of animals, as well as a large outdoor pool for rehabilitation – which is visible to the public – before the animals are put back to sea.
The CMSEM also runs collaborative projects dedicated to the study of seahorses and large nacres.
Photo of a sea turtle in the Oceanographic Museum by Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life
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