BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: South African swimming giant Chad le Clos and world champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary will be the ones to beat when the two-day FINA World Cup series leg commences at Hamad Aquatic Centre today.
Just two days ago in Dubai, le Clos bagged the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly golds in addition to his 200m butterfly gold the South African won on Thursday.
Hosszu, the overall winner of the World Cup last year, bagged a tally of eight medals in Dubai where she picked up four golds, two silvers and a couple of bronze medals over two days.
Both have been pencilled in for the Doha leg which ends tomorrow, organisers said yesterday.
“We have the top swimmers competing at our event. The world’s top 30 swimmers will be here out of which a number of them are Olympic Games stars and world champions,” Khalil Al Jabir, President of Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) said yesterday.
Besides Le Clos and Hosszu, confirmed entries include world champions and medallists from Miriera Belmonte of Spain, Florent Manadau of France and Oussama Melluli of Tunisia.
Swimming nations such as Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Russia, US, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland and Ukraine will also hit the pools for team events.
The Japanese team will be eyeing another shot at the 4x50m freestyle gold following their world record time in Dubai on Friday.
The Japanese team slashed half a second from the previous mark set by Russia a week ago in Moscow, the third stop on the FINA World Cup calender.
Japanese foursome Shinri Shioura, Satyaka Akase, Kenta Ito and Kanako Watanabe finished with a time of 1min 32.52sec, ahead of second-placed Brazil and China. Russia’s timing last Sunday in Moscow was 1:33.01.
“The two-day action is divided into four sessions. Each day there will be heats in the morning from 10:10am onwards. The evening sessions will begin at 5:30pm. In all 36 events will be held over two days,” Al Jabir said.
“I take this opportunity to welcome the FINA family. I want to convey my thanks to the swimmers who are turning up in such a big number in Doha,” Al Jabir added.
“I also thank our partners Al Kass TV and Aspetar for their continued support,” the QSA president said.
“We are using this as a test event,” Al Jabir said.
“We are ready now for any top FINA event. That’s how we feel. But at the same time, we are using this as a trial event,” he added.
“The FINA experts are here and they will evaluate our event. We will have a coaches convention (next year). More than 700 coaches will attend the Doha convention. More than 1,200 swimmers will be here so, yes, we are gearing up for bigger events,” Al Jabir added.
This year’s World Cup series kicked off in Eindhoven in August before moving to Berlin, Moscow and Dubai.
After the Doha leg, the FINA family relocates to Singapore and Tokyo before winding up the 2013 season in Beijing.
The two-day event will be held at Hamad Aquatic Centre located within the Aspire Zone. The facility is set over four floors and is designed around ultra-modern facilities for water sports.
The aquatic complex presents extensive facilities for swimming, driving, synchronized swimming and water polo.
The complex, built in 2006, has staged the Doha Asian Games competitions, the FINA Diving World Series in 2009 and most recently the 2011 Arab Games Swimming competitions.
THE PENINSULA
