Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian federations and IAAF vice-president, affirmed that his focus would be heavily on Asian athletics. Major General Dahlan said, in remarks published on the Asian Athletics Association’s website yesterday, that he is keen for the Asian continent, which he heads, to be the priority in his programme for the coming period, and that on this basis he believes the upcoming IAAF elections, due to be held in China this August to elect a new president and executive board, will see great attention paid to the Asian continent.
Major General Al Hamad, who met with a number of Balkan federation presidents in the Romanian city of Pitești on the sidelines of the Balkan Athletics Championships, revealed that developing athletics on the Asian continent is among his priorities, and that the continent must receive the attention it deserves from the international athletics family, both in technical focus and administrative representation, in the elections for the IAAF’s new executive board.
This is especially true as 214 federations from around the world will elect a new IAAF president from among the candidates — Britain’s Sebastian Coe and Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka — while a large number of candidates compete for the posts of vice-president and executive board members, chief among them Major General Dahlan Al Hamad.
Continental presence in the Balkans
The Balkan Athletics Championships in the Romanian city of Pitești saw a strong presence of officials from world athletics, led by Norway’s Svein Arne Hansen, president of European Athletics, elected last April to succeed Switzerland’s Hansjörg Wirz, Cameroon’s Hamad Kalkaba, president of the African Athletics Confederation, whose term was renewed last March, and Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, who won the unanimous backing of the Asian continent as president of the Asian Athletics Association.
Consultations took place between the presidents of the various continental federations and the Balkan federations regarding the upcoming IAAF elections, and all agreed that athletics must have the best sporting talent to serve the sport, while coordination also took place between the federations for a fair democratic process serving world athletics through varied representation.
Praise and appreciation
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad expressed his great satisfaction at the unified vision of the continental federation presidents on the need for a strong start for athletics administratively and technically in the coming period after the elections, saying the Asian continent he heads has a great deal of potential, energy and resources that will make a qualitative addition to athletics through future generations, and that on this basis he believes the consultations were important ahead of the upcoming federation elections, to be held in the Chinese capital Beijing just before the start of the men’s World Athletics Championships this August.
Cooperation agreements with Asia
Major General Al Hamad had earlier signed a number of cooperation agreements with the African and European federations aimed at development and the exchange of expertise, ideas and programmes for comprehensive development benefiting athletics in general and the Asian continent in particular. This came amid great praise from the European and African athletics families, with Major General Dahlan Al Hamad’s presence receiving praise and appreciation from the Balkan federations, who saw in his presence recognition of the development in athletics and a great seriousness of purpose that has characterised him since he took the helm of athletics on the Asian continent, where he achieved unparalleled success in a short period that drew the world’s attention to the extraordinary potential within Asia, which found its champion in Al Hamad’s vision and unanimously entrusted him with leading the continent for a further term.
