Hosszu, Le Clos set for Doha spectacle

Leading swimmers including several Olympic and World champions have confirmed their participation in the FINA Swimming World Cup Doha 2019, set to take place from November 7 to 9 at Hamad Aquatic Centre.  

The Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) has finalized the list of athletes for the world-class event, which includes a total of 210 athletes – 134 male and 76 female participants – representing 44 countries. In addition, 60 club swimmers will also compete.  

Australia will send the biggest team consisting of 22 swimmers to Doha, while Poland will have the second biggest squad comprising 13 athletes. Austria and Chinese Taipei’s teams will have 11 swimmers each.

QSA President and Organising Committee Chairman, Khaleel Al Jabir said preparations are in full swing for the meet and added that the QSA will provide the best facilities to all the participants.

“The Qatar Swimming Association is honoured to welcome the world’s best swimmers in Doha for the FINA Swimming World Cup 2019,” said Al Jabir.      

“The strong participation in the event once again reinforces Doha’s status as an elite venue for major swimming events. We will provide the best facilities to the teams and will try our best to make it a memorable event for all the athletes and fans like in the past,” he added.               

“One of our main goals when we first hosted the event back in 2012 was to promote swimming in Qatar and in the region as a whole, to inspire new athletes and to introduce new fans to this exciting sport. We thank FINA and its partners for their continued support, which has helped us in achieving our mission,” said the QSA President.

Hamad Aquatic Centre gets ready for thrilling races

The QSA has received entries from world’s best athletes in both men and women’s fields as it prepares to wrap up the seven-meet FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series.    

Swimmers will come to Doha from Kazan, Russia (November 1 to 3) – the sixth stop, which is hosting the first event of the third and final cluster.

Multiple gold medalists at 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju - Cate Campbell (AUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – will lead the women’s field at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, where the winners of cluster 3 and the overall champions will be announced.  

After the fifth meet in Berlin, Campbell was leading the overall ranking with 243 points, and was followed by the ‘Iron Lady’ Hosszu with 240 points.         

Michelle Coleman (SWE), who was third after the Berlin meet, will also participate alongside Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) and Kira Toussaint (NED) besides several other stars.

The men’s field includes Vladimir Morozov – the overall leader after the Berlin meet – and Danas Rapsys (LTU) – following the Russian star at second place – competing for medals. South

Africa’s Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion, Chad Le Clos will also return to Doha, what he terms as his ‘favourite’ venue.

Anton Chupkov (RUS), a world record holder in 200m breaststroke, Michael Andrew (USA) and Arno Kamminga (NED) are among the other leading male swimmers confirmed.

Results in Kazan are expected to make the Doha event more exciting, setting the stage for thrilling end to the FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series.     

Qatar to field 17 swimmers in home event

Qatar will field 17 swimmers, who will compete against the world’s best athletes in front of home fans.

The squad includes young talent like Abdulaziz Hassan Al-Obaidly, Yacob Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Yousef Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi and Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamed. Qatari swimmers showed outstanding performance at the 27th GCC Aquatics Championships in Kuwait in September, winning 34 medals including 17 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.