2019 DESTINY IN DOHA
Arabia and the Middle East, but all the major cuisines of the world are also well represented. ALCOHOL This is a sensive subject. Only high‐end hotels have bars and lounges that serve alcohol, and they scan your passport into a com‐ puter since only ex‐pats and foreign visitors are allowed into these drinking establishments anyway. A hotel lobby bars in some hotels may let you drink without the pass‐ port requirement, but if planning to venture out, take your passport along.
speakers you will encounter.
ATTITUDE Compared to other parts of the re‐ gion, Qatar is regarded by travelers as ‘very westernized’, with friendly locals and a welcome break from people approaching you on the street for money. Security concerns are few in general, but women are advised to exercise regular precau‐ ons in a large city with crowds of men. LANGUAGE For the most part, you should be able to get around more built‐up areas using English without trouble. The further you move out of Doha, the fewer English signs and
WEATHER & WATER Here, temperatures may have a range of 95°C/75°F. Light‐colored clothing is recommended. Take sunscreen, because even the large shops may not carry the brand you use. Qatari water comes mostly from desalinaon and there is only a short supply of fresh water in reserve. Your hotel room should provide free boled water each day, so start stashing it as soon as you arrive.
3 KINGS OF QATAR BARSHIM, HAROUN & SAMBA
Barshim won the high jump at the 16th Worlds in London and fast‐finishing Haroun swooped in to steal the bronze medal in the 400 metres. By contrast, Samba was just 7th in the 400m hurdles, but finished 2018 as world number 1 aer five Diamond League wins high‐ lighted by the first sub‐47‐ second clocking since 1992.
he did 45.15 before a late surge took him to third at the Worlds in 44.48 seconds. “Before the race, coach ad‐ vised me to sprint from 200m out, but I le it late and went with 150m to go”, Haroun says. “He be‐ lieves I could have won silver had I gone earlier.”
Abderrahman Sambam
These three kings of Qatar have p‐ toed around injury issues to be ready for World Championships at home. Ankle surgery has restricted Barshim to a modest 2019 best of 2.27 metres, a far cry from the height that ranks him second all‐me – 2.43. Unsure of his fitness, he skipped the Asian Championships held in Doha in April. Haroun missed that event too with an unspecified pre‐meet injury but returned to promising form with a me of 44.72 seconds in Ostrava on September 9. That’s much faster than his only race in the build‐up to the last World Championships, when he won the bronze. In that campaign,
Barshim, 28, and Haroun, 21, are established Qatari heroes; both are former World Under 20 champions, and Barshim has Olympic silver and bronze medals tucked away at home. Haroun’s trophy collecon has a world indoor 500‐metre record and a silver medal from the 2016 World Indoor Championships. The 24‐year‐old Samba is a late bloomer on the fast train. Brilliant in 2018, he zoomed to the second fastest 400‐metre hurdles run of all‐me – 46.98 seconds – at the Paris Diamond League meet. Early this season in Shanghai, he announced his intenon with a handy 47.27‐second victory.
There’s nothing quite like an inter‐ naonal championship where the host country has something to shout about. Thanks to Mutaz Essa Barshim, Abdalelah Haroun and Abderrahman Samba , the cizens of Doha, Qatar will raise their voices at these World Championships when they welcome world’s best athletes to the Khalifa Internaonal Stadium on September 28. Mutaz Essa Barshim, Qatar’s pre-eminent athlete, has jumped 2.43m, just 2/100m off the world record
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