Doha to stage 2019 World Championships

Barshim Mutaz Essa, of Qatar, competes in the men's high jump during the IAAF Diamond League Grand Prix competition on Randall's Island, Saturday, June 14, 2014, in New York. Essa placed second. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Doha was chosen yesterday to host the 2019 World Athletics Championships as Qatar’s latest triumph thrust the Middle East nation, with its massive wealth and boundless ambition to be a sporting super-power, once more back into the spotlight.

Less than a week after the controversy over Qatar’s selection to stage football’s World Cup in 2022 was reignited, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was not put off by potential criticism as it voted for the Qatari capital to stage another of global sport’s showpiece events.