(ATR) The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships begin in Doha, Qatar on Thursday with Olympic qualification places on offer for the first time.
A star-studded and deep lineup of more than 500 gymnasts from 76 countries will be led by Olympic All-around champions Simone Biles of the USA and Kohei Uchimura of Japan. Both were absent from the All-around finals at the 2017 edition in Montreal.
They will share the spotlight with new world champions Morgan Hurd of the USA and Xiao Ruoteng of China. Biles is tipped to become the first female gymnast to win four World All-around titles, while six-time world champion Uchimura will be competing in only four events.
All but one of the Olympic apparatus champions will be in the Qatari capital, and all but three of the reigning world apparatus champions will be back to defend their titles.
International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) president Morinari Watanabe applauded the Qatari organizers for their work in staging the first world championships in the Middle East.
"I came to Qatar for the first time for the Asian Games in 2006. At that time, Gymnastics was nothing more than flower seeds. In just 12 years since, Qatar has made the desert bloom with the flower of the World Championships. A dream is not something we have while we're sleeping - a dream is something we realize," Watanabe said in a statement.
The event, which runs through Nov. 3, will provide direct berths for Tokyo 2020 for the three medal-winning nations in the Team finals for both men and women.
Qatar to Host Two Major Judo Events
The 2020 Masters Championship and the 2023 World Judo Championship will be held in Doha.
An agreement between the International Judo Federation (IJF) and the Qatar Taekwondo, Judo and Karate Federation was signed at the IJF headquarters in Budapest on Tuesday.
The Masters Championship, which serves as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, brings together the world’s top 16 players from each weight, while the 2023 World Championship will feature competitors from more than 117 countries.
Qatar federation President Khalid bin Hamad Al Attiyah and IJF President Marius Vizer also signed an agreement for the IJF to support Qatar’s judo team for a five-year period from 2019 to 2023 in a set of training camps as well as all international championships held under IJF umbrella.
The two judo championships join the list of high-profile sporting events to be held in Qatar. The country is also preparing to host the IAAF World Athletics Championships, the 2022 FIFA World Cup for the first time in the Middle East and the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Sailing Federation Meets in Florida
World Sailing opens its annual conference October 27 in Sarasota, Florida. The week long meeting will include the finals of the sailing E sport competition and an awards gala.
Among the business to be handled at the meeting: preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a governance review and the future of sailing as a Paralympic sport. The International Paralympic Committee left sailing off of the program for the 2020 Games.
The annual meeting of the full Federation is scheduled for November 4, closing day of the gathering.
Records Set for World Junior Surfing Championships
The VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship begins in Huntington Beach, California on Saturday and runs through Nov. 4.
The 2018 edition of the event, the largest junior surfing competition in the world,has set new records for the participation of girls and countries.
The surfing federation says 362 athletes from 44 nations will compete, surpassing the record of 41 nations set at the 2016 edition in the Azores Islands of Portugal.
Of the 362 registered participants, 154 are girls. That shatters the record of 104 set in 2016, marking what the ISA calls an important success in the federation's push for gender equality in the sport.
Huntington Beach is hosting a fifth ISA Global Event but the first since the 2006 World Surfing Games.
Written by Gerard Farek and Ed Hula
For general comments or questions,click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Brigitte Henriques: “The important thing is that the women who are elected should be chosen for their ability, not because we are looking for modernization in terms of gender”
The Hula Report: Winds of Change for ANOC in Crete
Gilles Gilbert Gresenguet, presidential candidate for AFCNO: “We must take advantage of Paris 2024 to bring the Olympic Games back to French”
USOPC announces 613-member 2020 U.S. Olympic Team
Roger Federer pulls out of Tokyo Olympics: "I am greatly disappointed"
