The Peninsula
Star-studded China will look to regain domination as the continent’s track and field icons begin battle at the Asian Athletics Championships, which kick off today at Doha’s iconic Khalifa International Stadium.
While China, India and Japan will be looking to secure a rich medals haul, Qatar’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) will be focusing on delivering their best in hosting the event to show their readiness for the IAAF World Championships, which will be held at the same venue in just over five month’s time.
Around 700 athletes from 44 countries are competing for 186 medals in the 23rd edition of the biennial event. The four-day competition involves 21 men, as many women and a mixed relay event.
“Qatar is ready to host the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships, which we hope will be one of the most memorable editions,” said the President of Asian Athletics Association, Dahlan Al Hamad, who is also the head of LOC.
Dahlan, also the Vice-President of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said the LOC is keen to deliver the event in a way that it will be long remembered by the visiting athletes and delegations of world’s biggest continent.
“We are determined to give athletes the best experience and all the arrangements have been in place in this regard,” said the veteran before adding: “The same LOC will organise the IAAF Worlds and the Asian championships give us a good opportunity to prepare for the global showpiece event of the sport,” he added.
Dr Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, Qatar Athletics Federation President, in a message, has welcomed all the contingents.
“We are hosting the event for the first time and we are very excited,” said Al Kuwari.
“With the IAAF World Athletics Championships just around the corner, we are extremely excited to have the opportunity to showcase our advanced state of preparedness with all of our venues completed and ready for action,” he added.
China favourites as India miss stars
Giants China, the 17-time medal toppers, will enter the championships with a strong field including racing stars Su Bingtian and Xie Zhenye on the list, making the country favourite to top the event.
Reigning world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, shot putter Gong Lijiao, and Li Ling, Asian Games champion in 2014 and 2018 in pole vault are also part of the Chinese squad in Doha. Lu Huihui, a two-time world medallist in javelin throw; Chen Yang, Asian Games title holder in discus throw; and Wang Chunyu, the Asian Games reigning champion in 800 metres, will all also feature at the Khalifa International Stadium.
On the other hand, India, who surprisingly topped the medals standings for the first time in the previous (2017) edition in Bhubaneswar, are missing several stars due to injuries. The list includes javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, the Asian Games gold medalist.
National record holders Dharun Ayyasamy (men’s 400m hurdles), M Sreeshankar (men’s long jump) and Asian Games 800m gold medallist Manjit Singh will also miss the championships due to injuries, making it difficult for the South Asian side to repeat their feat in the Qatari capital.
Japan, meanwhile, who won the first four editions of the championships, will also look to bag maximum number of medals.
Samba to lead Qatar’s charge
Abderrahman Samba, the 400m hurdles specialist, will lead hosts Qatar, who will miss stars - high jumper Mutaz Barshim and sprinter Abdalelah Haroun.
Samba was in phenomenal form last season and won titles of all the competitions he participated.
This includes gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and the overall Diamond League trophy, following which the 23-year-old was shortlisted for the 2018 IAAF Athlete-of-the-Year.
Initially, Qatar named a 29-athlete squad to feature in the home event, before Barshim, who recovered from injury decided to take more time to make an international return. Haroun suffered injury during a training session on Friday.
However, hammer thrower Ashraf El Seify, who won gold medal at the Asian Games 2018, is part of the national squad.
The opening day, which will begin with the qualification rounds in the morning session, will feature finals in 9 disciplines in the evening session at the Khalifa International Stadium.