MONACO: Qatar’s high jump star Mutaz Essa Barshim is eyeing a memorable show on home soil after Doha yesterday won the rights to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships.
Doha was selected by a vote of the IAAF Council over Barcelona and Eugene for the right to host the 17th edition of the IAAF World Championships.
“Winning the Bid to host the World Championships is one of the proudest moments of my life,” Barshim said yesterday.
“Competing in the Khalifa International Stadium in front of a home crowd in 2019 will be a dream come true for me,” Barshim added.
“It was such an honour to present to the IAAF today and to share the dreams of my nation and the whole of the Middle East. It is my ambition to be Qatar’s first World Champion and first Olympic Champion – but I want to be the first of many such champions that Qatar produces,” the 23-year-old added.
“Hosting the World Championships in Doha will inspire my whole region to see that anything is possible,” the popular Qatari added.
Barshim won the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012, the silver at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, and gold at the 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland, earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s emergence as a global sporting hub gained further clout when Doha was chosen as host city yesterday.
The fast-growing city alongside the Arabian Gulf will become the first from the Middle East to stage the blue riband event.
Overlooked for the 2017 championships in favour of London, the Qatari capital was selected ahead of rival bids from 1992 Olympic hosts Barcelona and the American city of Eugene, often referred to as Track Town.
Doha earned 12 votes to Eugene’s nine and Barcelona’s six in the initial secret ballot of the IAAF Council before winning 15-12 over Eugene in the second vote.
However, IAAF Vice President Dahlan Al Hamad and head of the Doha 2019 bid, said the choice of the city was a “great opportunity” to take athletics to new regions.
“The World Championships for us will be a unique one,” he told a news conference in Monte Carlo’s Fairmont Hotel.
“We will organise it to a high level and these championships will expand the horizons of the IAAF.”
The 17th World Championships will take place at the newly-modernised Khalifa Stadium in early October, later than usual, to spare competitors from the worst of the desert heat.
Long-serving IAAF President Lamine Diack said the three candidates had been the best he had seen.
“I’m sure that in Doha we will have a wonderful edition of the world championships,” he said.
Eugene was hoping to become the first American city to host the event which began in 1983 in Helsinki. Portland, Oregon, will stage the 2016 World Indoor Championships while Eugene annually hosts a Diamond League meet.
“We would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Doha and our sincere thanks to the IAAF,” Eugene bid leader Vin Lananna said in a statement.
“We made a bold attempt with an audacious vision for this event and we will continue to partner with USA Track & Field in attracting other major events to the US. Barcelona was attempting to become the second Spanish city to host the event, following Seville in 1999. The 2015 world championships will be in Beijing.
THE PENINSULA/REUTERS
MONACO: Factbox on some of the major sporting events hosted, and to be staged, in Qatar after Doha was chosen yesterday to hold the 2019 world athletics championships.
SOCCER
Qatar will host the 2022 soccer World Cup -- it will be the first time that football’s showpiece event is going to be held in the Middle East. The Asian Football Confederation’s 2011 Asian Cup finals were held in Qatar in January 2011. Japan beat Australia 1-0 after extra time in the final in Doha.
TENNIS
The ATP and WTA stage world class events in Qatar with the men’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January and the women’s Qatar Total Open a month later. Doha’s ultra-modern Khalifa International Tennis Complex also hosted the season-ending WTA Championships from 2008 to 2010.
ATHLETICS
Qatar has been a regular stop on the world athletics circuit since the Doha Grand Prix was first held in 1997. Doha staged the first ever Diamond League meeting at the Qatar Sports Club stadium in May 2010, two months after hosting the World Indoor Championships.
MOTOR SPORT
The Qatar motorcyle Grand Prix opens each MotoGP season. In 2008 Qatar’s Losail International Circuit staged the first night event in MotoGP history. The race, generally staged in March or April in recent years, has been held since 2004.
GOLF
The Qatar Masters, part of the European Tour, has been staged at the Doha Golf Club since 1998 and has been won by such golfing luminaries as Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia who triumphed in this year’s event in January.
HANDBALL
The IHF world men’s handball championships will be held from January 15-February 1 next year. The tournament matches will take place across three venues; Lusail Multi-Purpose Hall in Lusail, Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Al Sadd and the Duhail Handball Sport Hall in Duhail
SWIMMING
The Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha will host the world short course swimming championships from December 3-7.
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“It’s a privilege and honour to have the trust of the IAAF. I am very delighted that these championships are going to be for the first time in the region. I’m confident that with the support of the IAAF we will organise one of the best World Championships.”
Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani
“I am sure that in Doha we will have a wonderful edition of the World Championships. I am convinced they are committed through sport to developing their country and their community, and they are doing the right things.”
IAAF President Lamine Diack
“This is a great moment for me as the President of the Qatari Athletics Federation, and as a Qatari. We have dreamed about organising such an event for a long time and, on behalf of the Qatari athletics family, we would like to thank the IAAF Council and IAAF family for giving Qatar the chance to host one of the most prestigious championships. We have always delivered what we have promised, such as in 2010 when we had the World Indoor Championships. Since that time we have committed to working hand in hand with the IAAF to optimise their globalisation philosophy.”
Dahlan Al Hamad, Qatari Athletics Federation President and an IAAF Council member.
