Local heroes Mutaz Essa Barshim and Abdalelah Haroun will be out to impress their home fans at the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting of 2016, which see the series start in Doha on 6 May.

Qatar’s Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla underlined his status as favourite for the men’s 800m title when coasting to victory in 1:47.61 during the qualifying heats on Friday afternoon (18).

Mohamed Al-Garni successfully defended his second title of the weekend, his 3000m win on home turf providing the highlight the final day of the Asian Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday (21).

Hosts China collected four more gold medals to finish on top of the medal table with 15 titles at the 2015 Asian Championships, which concluded in heavy rain in Wuhan on Sunday (7).

Many of the world’s leading athletes will be in action in Doha on 15 May for the opening fixture of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, but there will be plenty for the local fans to cheer for too as a handful of Qatar’s top athletes will be set to compete.

A year ago, Genzebe Dibaba demolished the 3000m world Indoor record at the XL-Galan in the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. When she returned this Thursday evening (19) she delivered the best kind of deja-vu experience for almost 10,000 spectators at the penultimate IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of the winter.

St Kitts’ sprinter Kim Collins continued to astound and defy Father Time at the traditional Russian Winter meeting, the second of the 2015 IAAF Indoor Permit meetings, which ironically fell on the warmest February day for many years in Moscow with temperatures about 3 degrees Celsius outside the CSKA Arena on Sunday (1).

World finalist Marion Lotout broke the championship record in the Pole Vault at the Francophone Games, bagging one of the five gold medals won by host nation France on 11 September, the second day of athletics action.

Silas Kiplagat and Musaeb Balla posted quick times in the middle-distance events, while Anita Wlodarczyk and Sally Pearson broke meeting records at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Rieti on a highly entertaining afternoon of athletics on Sunday (8).

On a rain-soaked Sunday (7), Betlhem Desalegn of the UAE rewrote the championship record in the women’s 5000m en route to a golden double to highlight the final day of the 20th Asian Athletics Championships in Pune, India.