Abdul Hakim Al Omari, board member and chairman of the technical committee for the new Asian championship, explained that it will be run under the supervision of qualified Qatari officials and technicians, with the championship seeing the participation of 180 Qatari officials alongside 23 technicians from various Asian countries.
Al Omari explained that the championship’s events will begin on Friday morning, 8 May, with the 100m as part of the youth decathlon, though the official opening will take place later the same day, at 5:30pm, with the opening ceremony.
He said all events, including the race walks, will be held at the Sheikh Saoud bin Hamad Stadium at Qatar SC, and that each athlete may take part in a maximum of two individual events in addition to one relay event, while each participating country may enter a maximum of two athletes in each event. The host country alone has the right to enter a third athlete in each race or event. He explained that, in addition to the medal ceremonies for the top three finishers in each event or race, certificates will be presented to athletes finishing between fourth and eighth. World youth athletics championships only began a short while ago, and the Americans are considered regional pioneers in this field, having organised the first South American championship back in 1973. Central America followed the South Americans’ lead in 1975 by organising a joint youth and junior championship. Oceania followed in 1993, then Africa more recently in 2013, while Europe will begin its own series of continental youth championships next year in the Georgian city of Tbilisi. It is worth noting that the IAAF organised the first world youth championship in 1999, and to date the largest youth championships have only been held in Europe, Africa and the Americas.
