Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, vice-president of the IAAF, extended his thanks and appreciation to the officials, led by Dahlan Al Hamad, for Doha’s hosting of the Asian Athletics Association meeting, a meeting that gave him the opportunity to be in Doha and to speak and consult with officials of the continental federation. Bubka said: The discussions held in the official meeting were extremely fruitful, and I saw everyone speak their mind with complete freedom, and all the officials at the Asian federation, led by Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, are working with all their strength for the advancement of the sport across the yellow continent, renewing at the same time his affirmation that the IAAF looks forward to working with the Asian federation to continue development, and continued: I know that Dahlan Al Hamad has an ambitious programme for advancing the mother of sports on the continent, and everyone at the IAAF supports him for the continued advancement of athletics on the Asian continent, the largest in the world, and he praised the ambitious thinking of the Asian federation president, saying: He has high sporting acumen, and the Asian federation will certainly benefit from his experience and abilities, in addition to his having purposeful programmes aimed at development and modernisation; we at the IAAF are firmly behind him and all the officials for the advancement of everything that serves athletics on the largest yellow continent in the world, and Bubka stressed that the Asian Athletics Association board meeting held yesterday was successful because the preparations for it had been carried out superbly, and that the agenda included everything of importance to the sport in Asia, noting that the yellow continent is rich in resources and human and logistical elements, and that energies must be unleashed in Asia to work for the advancement of the mother of sports
