By Satya Rath/Doha
 
The 2017 IAAF World Championships bid, which Doha lost out to London three years back, was a lesson well learnt for Qatar. At least that’s what Dahlan al-Hamad, the president of Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF), believes.
“We gave our best, but London’s bid was better. We realized there were a few grey areas in our presentation. Three years is a big time. We are fully prepared this time, we are confident we have the best bid among all three candidate cities,” the QAF president said in an informal chat yesterday.
Doha is competing with two other cities – Barcelona (Spain) and Eugene (USA) – to bag the hosting rights of the 2019 World Championships. An IAAF Evaluation Commission, headed by IAAF vice-president Sebastian Coe, is already in Doha to have a first-hand feel of the facilities. The commission has completed the evaluation of the other two candidate cities, with Doha being its last stop. It will submit a report to the IAAF executive council, which will take a deciding call in Monaco on November 18.
Dahlan says he’s not underestimating the bids of the other two cities. “Both Barcelona and Eugene are competent candidates, and we are sure they must have carefully thought about their presentations. But we think we have the edge, as the IAAF believes in expanding the reach of world athletics and spreading it to newer horizons, and the Middle East has never hosted the World Championships,” he explains.
“Furthermore,” the QAF chief adds, “we already have a successful track record of hosting big events. We have been hosting the opening meeting of the IAAF’s Diamond League since its inception. We hosted the Asian Games, we have already hosted the World Indoor Championships (in 2010), and we would be hosting the football World Cup in 2022. We strongly believe we have the best facilities and infrastructure to host an event of this magnitude. We are certain we will make the IAAF, and ourselves, feel proud by the class and grandeur that we have planned for the event.”
Dahlan believes Doha’s bid would be unique in many ways than the other bids. “We have proposed to build an Athletics City, where the athletes can freely mingle with the public. We plan to host a night marathon, which has never happened before at the World Championships. We would have a 100 metre long giant LCD screen for spectators for the 100m sprint. These are just some of the unique things in our bid document. We can confidently state that given a chance, we shall make Doha 2019 the best World Championships ever,” he asserted.
High jump icon Mutaz Essa Barshim, who is one of the ambassadors for Qatar’s bid, too believes it’s high time his gets a chance to host world athletics’ biggest event.
“A World Championships medal is always special, but very few get a chance to win it at home, before your home crowd,” said the 23-year-old. “I strongly feel Doha is a deserving candidate to host this event. Winning a medal at Doha 2019 would be the highlight of my career – standing on the podium, watching the Qatari flag being raised and hearing the national anthem would be a memory to treasure for life. We need to connect athletics to this part of the world and to inspire young people across the region by live athletics, so I am very hopeful that Doha would win the bid this time. It would be a proud moment not just for Qatar, but for the entire Middle East region.”
Women’s 400m runner and hurdler Mariam Farid harbours a similar dream too. She has already set her sight on winning glory for Qatar at the 2019 Championships, and feels it would be the best possible inspiration for female athletes.
“It is very important for us to host the World Championships. It would a big boost for female athletes, not just in Qatar but for the entire Middle East region. Not many girls choose athletics as a career in this part of the world, and I am sure hosting the event would prove to a big inspiration and impetus for more and more girls to take to sports.
“For me specially, it would mean a lot much to win a World Championships medal in front of my home crowd. I would be 21 by then, and am confident that if I keep training hard, I can make my country proud,” Mariam said.
Russian hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, who is one among numerous top athletes supporting Doha’s bid, says his impression about Qatar changed after he competed at the Diamond League in Doha. “I have never been to Barcelona, but I have been to Eugene. And I can honestly say that the facilities at Doha are superior. The Diamond League meeting here is one of the best organized events I have ever attended. The Aspire Zone, I strongly feel, is a one of its kind facility in the world. The venues, for whatever little I have seen so far, are world class. So yes, I do believe Doha has what is required to host the World Championships,” Shubenkov -- who won the 110m hurdles bronze at the Moscow Worlds last year, his country’s first ever World Championship medal in hurdles – said.
The IAAF Evaluation Commission is scheduled to tour some more venues and facilities today and watch a presentation by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and the QAF before concluding their two-day visit.





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