The high organising committee for the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships held its second meeting, chaired by HE Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and vice-president of the IAAF, attended by most committee members: Abdulhakim Al Omari, championships director, Mohammed Suleiman, head of the spectators committee, Mai Yousef Al Mohammadi, head of the public relations committee, Abdulrahman Sultan Al Nubi, head of the secretariat committee, Yousef Ahmed, head of the finance committee, Younis Ahmed, head of the hospitality committee, Yaqoub Yousef Abdullah, head of the equipment committee, Raghdan Faisal, head of the transport committee, Marwan Abu Al Assal, head of the accreditation committee, Ghania, head of the media committee, Basma Al Manoubi, head of the ceremonies and podium committee, and Kholoud Mandani, representing the public relations committee, in addition to a representative of Aspire and the technical committees. The meeting saw extensive discussions.
HE Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and vice-president of the IAAF, opened the meeting with a welcoming address to all those present, saying the championships were an important event and a journey in search of new excellence, and that everyone was required to work in a considered way to reach the desired goal. He said: there is no doubt that today’s meeting is to follow up on everything relating to the championships and the committees’ work. Some may say the championships need a lot of meetings, but the great trust and professionalism in the committees’ work makes things easier for everyone and helps things run as well as possible, especially since we are confident in each committee’s ability to deliver everything asked of it and achieve the desired successes, and I am confident in the ability of all committees to achieve full readiness ahead of the Asian event, which is seeing record participation in terms of the number of participating teams or the champions, male and female, seeking Asian excellence
HE Dahlan Al Hamad, chairman of the organising committee for the Asian Indoor Championships, confirmed that the large participation is evidence of the great trust in Qatari organisation, which has become the focus of attention for all countries, not just in Asia, which requires everyone to ensure success for the working committees in order to reach the set goals. He said there was great trust in every committee and every worker involved in the upcoming Asian event, and that contact was ongoing with all contributors to the championships, whether committees or otherwise, in order to achieve the ideal launch, as has been the case with all previous hostings. He said: when we seek to host any event, we understand that we are undertaking a complete mission that reflects on the state itself, meaning the work must be fully integrated for complete success befitting the host country, especially since the state has never fallen short in ideally hosting any event, let alone a championship the size of the Asian Championships, which is considered the second-biggest championship organised by the Asian federation, and indeed a positive rehearsal before the upcoming World Championships. Over many long years, we have accumulated invaluable experience in hosting major sporting championships, which has had a great impact at the global level, and our efforts will be crowned by hosting the World Athletics Championships in 2019
HE Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the international and Asian federations and vice-president of the IAAF, said Qatar is proud to have one of the youngest and most talented teams in the world, and that we expect to compete in the championships with a very strong team including an elite of our male and female champions, and two years ago in Hangzhou, China, our national team topped the medal table with five gold medals, and we are confident that the home advantage of competing on our own soil and in front of our own crowd will spur our champions to repeat that achievement and show their great potential ahead of the World Indoor Championships in Portland, America
HE Dahlan Al Hamad, chairman of the organising committee for the Asian Indoor Championships, concluded by asking all committees to cooperate in serving the championships and its organisation, renewing his full confidence in everyone and their ability to honour their countries at the upcoming Asian event
Abdulhakim, championships director, confirms
Abdulhakim Al Omari, championships director, spoke about the latest preparations and the committees’ work in the final stage, explaining the latest preparations during the past period and what is expected in the coming days, especially with time running short before the championships. He said he thanked all the committees for their cooperation and hard work in achieving complete success without any hesitation, which he described as the first key to success for the championships set for next month, noting that the number of participants had exceeded all expectations, which is an indicator of the championships’ strength and the need for comprehensive preparation, and that he thanked HE Dahlan Al Hamad, chairman of the organising committee, for his continuous support on the journey to find the best preparation for the major event, especially as any big championship carries many challenges
Simple opening ceremony with surprises for all fans
After adopting the minutes of the organising committee’s first meeting, a review was made of what had been achieved so far, before determining each committee’s working mechanisms for the coming period and discussing the opening and closing ceremonies. It was confirmed that the opening ceremony would be simple but full of meaning and positive messages, and would be a pleasant surprise for all those present, in addition to the organising committee’s intention to provide all the resources needed to ensure a strong crowd turnout of citizens and residents, especially as it will give those present the chance to follow the event closely and track all results precisely through electronic scoreboards on site
Mohammed Suleiman, head of the spectators committee, confirms
Mohammed Suleiman, assistant secretary-general and head of the spectators committee, confirmed that work in his committee was going as well as possible, and that the Asian Indoor Championships is completely different from the Diamond League, with attendance at the venue usually lower because of the number of seats in indoor halls compared with open stadiums. He said: we are working with all the schools, communities and companies to encourage them to attend and help make the big Asian event a success, especially since the indoor championships have their own character and their own fans, and there has been engagement from the number of people we have met, and so we will see a notable crowd turnout despite the limited number of seats at the championships themselves, but I am confident that the fans who love athletics will not stay away from this big event
Large participation by national teams
Even before it began, the 7th Asian Indoor Championships saw wide participation from all Asian countries, indeed participation that exceeded all expectations in terms of large numbers, such as Kuwait, which is taking part with 71 athletes and two administrative and technical staff, while our national team is taking part with the largest number of athletes, with a total of 28, while Saudi Arabia is taking part with 22 athletes, Bahrain with 5 male and 10 female athletes, China with 14 male and 12 female athletes, and the pleasant surprise is that Jordan is taking part with 13 male athletes and the same number 
of female athletes, given that the smallest delegation, Afghanistan, has only one male and one female athlete, even though the registration window has now closed, meaning the numbers submitted are now final with no further additions
The teams that have officially confirmed their participation in the ninth Asian Championships are Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, China, Japan, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Mongolia, the Maldives, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Macau, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Brunei and Taiwan
