DOHA (Qatar): Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) will organize the FINA Swimming World Cup next month at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Aspire Zone.
The competition, which will take place from November 7 to 9, will be the last meet of the FINA Swimming World Cup series, involving seven cities.
It will be the eighth consecutive year for Doha to host a FINA Swimming World Cup event.
The Qatari capital, home to the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2014, will also host the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
“Doha’s presence since 2012 in the World Cup circuit has reinforced the visibility of this top-notch event in the Middle East region. After the successful staging of 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), the legacy of swimming has continued in this part of the world,” said FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione.
Exciting races on the cards
The series started in Tokyo (JPN) while Jinan (CHN) and Singapore (SGP) hosted the next two meets, forming cluster 1. Cluster 2 involved stops in Budapest (HUN) and Berlin (GER).
The stop in Berlin, which was held from October 11 to 13, witnessed Dutchman Arno Kamminga surpassing Russia’s Vladimir Morozov to win the second cluster.
In the women’s events, Australia’s Cate Campbell surpassed Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu to win the cluster, taking an overall lead in the series.
Swimmers will come here after competing in the Kazan (RUS) meet – the first stop of the third and final cluster – which will take place from November 1 to 3.
The race in Doha will showcase the cluster 3 winners and the overall winners with the overall winners receive $150,000.
Morozov is ahead in the men’s overall rankings in the series with 264 points, followed by Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys with 177 points.
USA’s Andrew Michael is third with 132 points.
Campbell is leading the women’s overall rankings with a total of 243 points, followed by Hosszu with 240 points. Sweden’s Michelle Coleman is third with 135 points.
Leading swimmers to set the Doha pool ablaze
With much at stake, the Doha meet – one of the famous stops for swimmers – is expected to attract all the big names of the sport, apart from the leading swimmers of FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series.
The list of the participants will be finalized soon.
Qatari swimmers will also take part in the home event after showing outstanding performances at the 27th GCC Aquatics Championships in Kuwait, where they clinched 34 medals including 17 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals last month.
