Barshim to lead Team Qatar at Asian Athletics Champinship

Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) announced the list of Team Qatar athletes for the 2019 Asian Athletics Championship, which will be held later this month at Khalifa International Stadium.

The event, which will run from April 21-24, are a test event for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, which are scheduled for September. The list includes Qatar’s star high-jumper and world and Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim, who has recovered from an ankle injury he had suffered last year while attempting for a world record height in Hungary in July.

Yesterday, the 27-year-old tweeted a picture from a training session where he was checked up on by Qatar Athletics Federation president Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari. Joining Barshim for the Asian championships is 400m hurdles star Abderrahman Samba, who was undefeated in nine races last season. Ashraf El Seify, Femi Ogunode, Tusin Ogunode, Jamal Hairane, Owab Barrow and Hamza Driouche and Abu Baker Abdullah too will wow the crowds at the state-of-the-art venue later this month.
The four-day tournament will bring together nearly 1,000 athletes and up to 450 officials from 45 countries. Over morning and evening sessions, athletes will compete for 186 medals across 21 events each for men and women, in addition to a mixed relay event that will debut at the championships.
The tournament will see the usual continental powerhouses go head-to-head for the number one spot in Asia’s athletics. After an initial period of Japanese dominance over the championship, China took over as undisputed champion for 17 consecutive editions until it was unseated by last edition’s hosts and eventual winners, India.
With top Asian athletes descending on Doha from the different regions of the continent, the Championships will surely produce promising athletes who can then return to Doha in September and shine on the global stage when the city hosts the World Championships.