Strong turnout of international figures, led by the IAAF president
World champions, men and women, to take part strongly in Doha meeting as Qatar’s athletes stand ready
The organising committee of the Doha Diamond League meeting held its first meeting, chaired by Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, chairman of the organising committee and meeting director, and attended by members Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari, assistant meeting director for support and chairman of the marketing committee; Abdul Hakim Al Omari, assistant meeting director for technical affairs; Mohammed Suleiman, chairman of the crowd committee; Abdulrahman Al Nubi, general coordinator; Mai Yousef Al Mohammadi, chairwoman of the public relations committee; Yousef Ahmed Abdullah, chairman of the finance committee; Khalifa Abdulmalik, chairman of the sports events committee; Yaqoub Yousef Abdullah, chairman of the venues committee; Rashid Al Ansari, chairman of the protocol committee; Raghdan Faisal, chairman of the reception and transport committee; Younes Ahmed, chairman of the accommodation committee; Dr Jabbar Al Kaabi, chairman of the technical and results committee; Mohammed Shuaib, chairman of the secretariat committee; Abdullah Hassan, chairman of the officials committee; Salah Al Saadi, chairman of the electronic equipment committee; Marwan Abu Al-Assal, chairman of the accreditation committee; Fatima Khamis Al Malki, chairwoman of the anti-doping committee; and Ghania, chairwoman of the media committee — in addition to representatives of the security committee, television, and the participating champions. Major General Dahlan welcomed all the members at the start of the meeting and asked everyone to work according to the plans laid out, with determination to keep up the excellence seen in previous championships, which had been a byword for excellence and impressed all who attended.
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad added, in his opening address to the organising committee meeting: There is no doubt that we face a new challenge requiring a great deal of work to reach full excellence, as in past championships, but of course we do not look back too much — we constantly seek to excel in new ways and with even greater determination. There is confidence in everyone, since we have all worked on the Diamond League meeting before, as it has become synonymous with dazzling, complete excellence. The IAAF knows that the Doha meeting is the season’s opening round, so all eyes are on it to gauge the right start and our resolve to keep delivering the strongest championships, both through the champions taking part and through ideal organisation and an active crowd presence. I confirm to you again that our country’s full support is there for our success, and everyone is required to deliver their best and plan properly to achieve the success required.
He said the Diamond League meeting has been held annually since 2010 and has established itself as one of the most important rounds of the Diamond League during the season. Over the past years we have brought dozens of the world’s outstanding champions and record- and Olympic medal-holders to Doha, and succeeded in raising awareness of our sport and inspiring a growing number of young people to take it up with strong ambition to shine and succeed. Many of them have since developed and are today ready to compete against their favourite champions. Major General Al Hamad noted that the Doha Diamond League meeting has firmly established itself as one of the most important rounds of the Diamond League, and has inspired many young people to take up the sport with great ambition for success, and that they are now ready to compete against their favourite champions.
Major General Dahlan closed his remarks by stressing that this year’s Doha meeting features many big names, in addition to the participation of ambitious Qatari athletes seeking the best results and times, since some see the meeting as a useful, positive rehearsal before the Rio Olympics, while others prefer to take part simply to gauge the level they have reached. He wished everyone success, voicing strong confidence in the full backing of all the volunteers and committee members taking part in this renewed global event.
The meeting then moved on to review everything relating to the championships and hear the views of the committee chairs, aiming for integrated, coordinated work that contributes to achieving the desired goals, and wished everyone success.
IAAF president to attend Doha meeting
Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and IAAF vice-president, revealed that a number of important figures in world athletics would attend, led by IAAF president Sebastian Coe, along with a large number of IAAF council members and representatives of continental federations from Europe, Asia and Africa, saying the strong turnout was fresh confirmation of complete success.
Strong turnout of champions, men and women
As is now well known, a number of the world’s champions, men and women, will take part in the global event that is the Doha meeting, set for 6 May. The two home champions, Mutaz Barshim and Abdalelah Haroun, will face stiff competition from some of the world’s best athletes in the high jump and the 400m respectively. The field includes 2008 Olympic champion and 2011 and 2013 world 400m gold medallist LaShawn Merritt, world 1500m title-holder Asbel Kiprop, and 2015 world high jump champion Derek Drouin.
Mutaz Barshim has never won in Doha in his three previous attempts, and in his bid to record his first win in his home country he may need a personal best on Qatari soil — his current personal best is 2.37m — or even a new meeting record, the current record being held by Ivan Ukhov at 2.41m.
Barshim will face a challenge from three 2012 Olympic medallists and two 2015 World Championship medallists, in a competition that looks like an Olympic final: world champion and Olympic bronze medallist, Canada’s Derek Drouin; China’s Zhang Guowei, runner-up in Beijing; American Eric Kynard, the Olympic silver medallist; and Robbie Grabarz, who shared bronze with Mutaz Barshim and Drouin in London.
Rounding out this outstanding high jump field are former world champion Donald Thomas of the Bahamas, Italy’s Marco Fassinotti, who reached 2.35m indoors this season, and the two young Qatari jumpers Muammar Essa Barshim and Hamdi Al-Amin.
The latest rising talent in Qatari athletics, 19-year-old Abdalelah Haroun, will make his first appearance in a scoring race in Doha, having won a non-scoring race over the same distance restricted to Asian athletes last year. In his official debut, he will run a race resembling the World Championship final in terms of its field, and Haroun is expected to take on half the finalists from the Beijing World Championships, having already won silver at the last World Indoor Championships in Portland, USA.
The standout name in what promises to be a superb 400m is former Olympic champion and two-time world champion LaShawn Merritt, runner-up at the 2015 Beijing World Championships.
Merritt holds the Doha meeting record, set in 2014 at 44.19s. The American’s personal best (43.65s) ranks sixth on the all-time list, one place ahead of another entrant at the 2016 Doha Diamond League meeting, Botswana’s Isaac Makwala. In 2015, Makwala, formerly the African record holder (43.72), finished fifth in Beijing and won the African Games title in Brazzaville, Congo.
There is another runner under 44 seconds: Saudi Arabia’s Yousef Ahmed Masrahi, Asia’s fastest man over 400m (43.93). Masrahi finished eighth in the Beijing final, one place behind Machel Cedenio of Trinidad and Tobago, who will also be present at the Doha Diamond League meeting.
Middle-distance fans will enjoy watching several of the top 1500m stars, including Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, Elijah Motonei Manangoi and Silas Kiplagat.
Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic champion, won all three of the last World Championship finals, and last year also ran the fastest time in fourteen years, clocking 3:26.69 at the Monaco meeting — the third-fastest in the event’s history. The Kenyan also holds the Doha meeting record, set in 2014 at 3:29.18.
Manangoi, 23, with a personal best of 3:29.67, surprised everyone by finishing runner-up to Kiprop in Beijing, while Kiplagat, a past Doha winner in 2012 and holder of the fifth-fastest time in the event’s history at 3:27.64, has not missed an Olympic or World Championship final since the 2011 Worlds in Daegu.
The strongest challengers to the two Kenyans are likely to be Ayanleh Souleiman and Aman Wote, both with personal bests under 3:30. Souleiman, the 2014 world indoor champion in Sopot, can be compared to Kiprop as also being an 800m specialist; he proved his class in both events last year by winning bronze in Beijing. Ethiopia’s Wote, meanwhile, is best known for finishing runner-up to Souleiman in Sopot.
The 800m will not be part of Doha’s official programme this year, but we will see our own Musaab Abdulrahman Balla in action — he reached the final at both the Beijing and Portland championships — lining up in the national race alongside Jamal Hairane and Abubaker Haydar, who finished second and fourth respectively at the last Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.
