Full capacity attendance expected at Doha Diamond League as tickets sold out

Doha-The Ooredoo Doha Meeting, the opening event of the 2022 Wanda Diamond League series, will witness a full capacity stadium attendance as tickets are already sold out for the competition which will be held at the Qatar Sports Club on Friday, May 13. Seven reigning Olympic champions and a host of Olympic and world medalists are set to compete at the Qatar Sports Club, where six world leading performances, three meeting records, and six area and national records were set 12 months ago. Event highlights include the men’s pole vault, high jump, 400m hurdles, 200m and the women’s 200m. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Qatar Athletic Federation (QAF) President Mohammed Al Fadhala said, "We are delighted that the competition is returning back to its pre-pandemic era." The Doha Diamond League is one of the best attended sporting events not only in Qatar but the entire region, and it gladdens my heart that the fans are excited to witness another night of amazing athletics action on the track and field of the Qatar Sports Club. " Fadhala noted that the last edition of the competition was adjudged the best in the Diamond League series, and that the organizing committee has put everything in place to ensure that this year’s event surpasses all the previous editions in all ramifications. "Aside from organizing the best in the series, it is our belief that the competition will also provide opportunities for young Qatari athletes to garner the much-needed experience which will further enhance their chances of competing in top-level competitions, including the World Championships," the QAF president added. More than 170 athletes from about 50 countries are participating in the event, which has Ooredoo as its Title Sponsor. Joint Olympic high jump champions Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi – who shared one of the greatest sporting moments of all time when they topped the podium in Tokyo – will reunite in competition in Doha. Also on the cards are Sweden's Mondo Duplantis, Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder, who will kick off his outdoor campaign in the Qatari capital, as well as Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse of Canada, who will take on world champion Noah Lyles (USA) and Olympic 100m silver medalist Fred Kerley (USA) in a star-studded men’s 200m, among others. "We are delighted to be the Title Sponsor of the Doha edition of the Diamond League. Ooredoo is a company that is passionate about sports, and we have a long history of exciting partnerships with the Qatar Olympic Committee. We are always ready to lend our support to sports development in Qatar and the Doha Diamond League ranks high in this regard. We look forward to another great event on Friday, "Sabah Rabiah Al-Kuwari, Director of PR at Ooredoo Qatar, said. The 2022 Wanda Diamond League comprises 14 meetings in total, starting with Doha at the Qatar Sports Club on 13 May and concluding with a single final across two days in Zurich (7-8 September). Each meeting will be broadcast globally in a live two-hour programme.

Barshim and Tamberi to meet again for a New High Jump Challenge in Doha

DOHA - World’s Sports capital Doha is all set to host Ooredoo Doha Diamond League Meeting on Friday, May 13, at Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium. An event that will bring together legends and top Olympic medalists from Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Joint Olympic high jump champions Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy who shared one of the greatest sporting moments of all time when they topped the podium in Tokyo – will reunite in competition at the Doha Diamond League on May 13, the opening meeting of the 2022 series. Double world champion Barshim was outstanding when winning global gold in Doha in 2019 to become the first man to successfully defend a world high jump title. Remarkably, it followed a devastating ankle injury in 2018. Qatar’s high jump star made ambitious statement on Saturday ahead of another reunification with his dearest friend Gianmarco Tamberi  and said,  we made history with our Olympic gold, but my focus is now entirely on defending my world title in Eugene later this summer, we must all continue to work hard if we’re to push the boundaries of our sport and I truly excited to make something good happen again. Likewise , the 29-year-old Tamberi seems very happy to reunite again with his friend and bitter rival Barshim, said:  “I celebrated the best moment of my life so far with Mutaz in Tokyo, but it’s important to move on from that and focus on the new goals I’ve set myself for the World and European Championships this summer”.  “ I’ve been training in Qatar since the end of March, and I’ve enjoyed learning more about this great country. Every time I come here it feels like home because of my friendship with Mutaz and the warm welcome I’ve received, so it means a lot to me to open my Diamond League campaign and summer season in Doha.” Added the Italian high jump star.

Unstoppable Bryl and Losiak secure Doha Challenge title

Doha: No one came even close to being able to stop Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak at this week’s Doha Challenge as the Poles secured their second Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour title in spectacular fashion at the Al Gharafa Beach Courts. The winners of the season-opening Tlaxcala Challenge back in March, Bryl and Losiak completed their perfect week of play in the Qatari capital with a two-set (21-18, 21-15) victory over Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava to take the title on Sunday. The Poles were never in danger during their campaign in Doha, winning all their six matches in three days in straight sets. Besides the titles in the Qatari capital and Tlaxcala, the Tokyo Olympians also finished fourth at the Rosarito Elite16 and ninth at the Itapema Challenge in what is their first season as partners. The victory in Doha was even more special for the 27-year-old Bryl, who won the first title of his international career in the city, back in 2020, when he and Grzegorz Fijalek triumphed in an FIVB World Tour event. “Everything feels perfect right now,” he said after the conclusion of the tournament. “Doha is the best place for me because it’s my second final here and my second victory. I think our blocking and defence were really good and maybe that was the difference in the final.” After the teams exchanged points at the start of the gold medal match, the Poles took advantage of a good serving run from Losiak to build a 10-7 lead. Bryl and Losiak kept pushing and quickly were 17-12 ahead. They comfortably reached set point at 20-16, but allowed the Italians to score two in a row. A well-timed timeout break disrupted Nicolai’s serving rhythm and the Olympic medallist sent the ball into the net to give the Poles a 21-18 victory. The Poles took an earlier lead in the second set and scored four of the first five points, but a couple of strong defensive plays from the Italians levelled the two sides at four points. A trickle ace by Bryl gave the Polish breathing room at 8-5 and they used their nearly flawless side out game to maintain the lead until the end, when Bryl blocked Nicolai to end the match 21-15. After this tournament, we’ll take a quick break and enjoy this medal, which is really special for us,” Losiak remarked. “We have several important tournaments coming up soon and we’ll try and prepare the best we can so we’re able to play at the same level we did here this week.” Austrians Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz completed the all-European podium in Doha with their first international medal since November 2020. The bronze medallists of the 2019 European Championship topped Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot in straight sets (21-17, 21-18) to take bronze in Doha. In the semifinals, Bryl and Losiak came out on top against the Austrians 2-0 (21-18, 23-21) while Nicolai and Cottafava survived a three-set (16-21, 21-9, 15-11) battle against the Dutch. The men will return to the sand on the Beach Pro Tour next week, with the Spanish capital Madrid hosting a Futures tournament from May 12-15. The fourth Challenge event of the season will take place in Kuşadası, Turkey, from May 19-22.

Stage set for Ooredoo Doha Meeting

Doha- Qatar’s capital city of Doha has completed all managerial and technical preparations to host Ooredoo Doha Meeting, first round of the 2022 Athletics Diamond League to be held at Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium on May 13, as  athletics lovers significantly flocked to get their tickets to enjoy the best performance from athletics legends on Friday. Tickets went on sale at the Qatar Athletics Association official website and social media platforms, where the prices are ranging from QR 50 to QR 200 as per the required category, so opportunity is available for everyone to enjoy watching the biggest and most popular athletics event to be held in Qatar. Every year, Doha round brings together top world athletes and boats with such an intensive local and world media coverage as the organizing committee has left no stone unturned to attract best Olympic names to Doha. Most Notably, Doha was the destination of the last year’s Diamond League second round, which brought together more than 200 Olympic and world champions. The 2022 Diamond League calendar will see athletics competitions to be conducted in 14 cities across four different continents, where athletes will compete in 13 rounds from May to September, as the best of them will fight for top honors in the two day-final scene in Zurich. The season opens in Doha on May 13, ahead of Birmingham, which hosts the Commonwealth Games between July 28 and August 8, and also visits the US city of Eugene, host of the 2022 World Athletics Championships. The league will then move to Rabat, Morocco, on June 5, before returning to Europe, where the competitions will be held in Rome, Oslo, Paris, and Stockholm. After the World Athletics Championships scheduled for July 15-24, the Diamond League returns to China for the first time since 2019 in Shanghai on July 30, while a second Chinese city will host the tournament on Aug.6. In August, the competitions will be held in Monaco and Lausanne, before concluding in Brussels on Sep.2 and then the final in Zurich on Sep.7 and 8.

Sheikh Joaan crowns Al-Duhail Champions of HH the Amir Handball Cup

Doha-H.E President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani crowned Al- Duhail champions of HH the Amir Handball Cup for the third time in their history after beating Al-Arabi 33-27 in the final match held at Al-Duhail Arena on Thursday.  The final match was attended by H.E QOC First Vice President Mohamed bin Yousef Al-Mana, President of the Qatar Handball Association (QHA) Mr. Ahmed Al-Sheabi, H.E President of Al-Arabi Sports Club Sheikh Tamim bin Fahad Al-Thani and QHA Board Members.

Qatar’s Al Tamimi wins Atlanta Open crown

Qatar’s Abdulla Al Tamimi ended his title drought after he clinched victory at the Life Time Atlanta Open squash tournament, coming through an 82-minute marathon against Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio. The top-ranked Qatar player last won a title in 2018.   After a bye through to the second round, Al Tamimi, who was the top seed for the Challenger 10 level tournament, started his campaign with a 21-minute victory over Miled Zarazua, in which he dropped just 12 points across the three games. He then also defeated England’s Mark Broekman, the event’s No.7 seed, in straight games, before a more difficult task came in the semi-finals of the competition, as he came up against No.3 seed Timothy Brownell. The American took the first game, but the Qatari fought back to win 3-1 and advance to the final. In the final, he came up against Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio, a man in form after his victory at the Val de Reuil Normandie in March.  Al Tamimi found himself behind for the second day in succession, after losing the third game on a tie-break 12-10.  However, the Qatari fought back to win in five, taking the decider on a tie-break 13-11, to claim his first title since winning in Malaysia four years ago.