Mr. Dahlan Alhamad, the President of Qatar Athletics Federation, returned to Doha after attending the meetings which were organized by the International Association of Athletics Federation, in Monaco during 13-14 November 2006. The meetings were attended by the member federations in IAAF. Holding these meetings, however, occurred during the time of choosing the best 2006 male and female athletes in Athletics. This event was organized in Monaco on the 12th of November 2006 and it was also attended by Mr. Dahlan Alhamad.

The President of Qatar Athletics Federation has held various meetings with several of his counterparts from the five continents to discuss and exchange the athletics affairs that support the development athletics. They, also, exchanged opinions related to the enhancement of promoting athletics’ principles. Mr. Alhamad explained to the presidents and representatives of other federations the comprehensive efforts spent by Qatar to host the 15th Asian Games, Doha-2006, which will involve also athletics competitions. He, moreover, exposed to his counterparts the scope of Qatar’s ambitions and aspirations in athletics to seize new achievements that cope with Qatar athletics to be equivalent with the international levels.

The meetings lasted for two days in Vermont Hotel, Monaco, and were headed by the president of the International Association of Athletics Federation. The attendants approved the proposal of allocating 44% from the IAAF’s budget to support the rewards presented in the recognized official competitions during 2007. Also, a part of the budget has been approved to support the development researches in the fields of athletics. Besides, an amount of 450000$ was allocated to be distributed over the youth athletics practitioners and some other grants were approved to other programs that support the youth affairs.

The meetings concluded, also, to change the date of the women marathon competition in the 2008 Olympic Games. The date will be 17/8/2008, instead of 15/8/2008. The date of the coming world half marathon event, Italy, was fixed to be on 14/10/2007.

The IAAF board reviewed the submitted letters by the countries which desire to host the world championships in 2011 and 2013. The first of next December, however, would be a deadline to receive nomination letters in this respect. It has been announced that the board, after this date, will study the candidate cities and the final decision will be made during the next meeting in Kenya, March 2007.

The board discussed some issues related to the participation of three Kenyan athletes who represented Bahrain in the world championships last year. After discussions and studies, the board approved the case of Bilal Mansour (John Ego) but when a checking of the submitted documents is done concerning his date of birth. Yet, the board asked for additional information from Bahrain Athletics Federation in order to issue its final decisions in the cases of Tahir Mubarek (Denis kikoroy) and Khamis Adam (Hosi Kosghi).

Finally, the IAAF board approved that the world cross-country championship shall be organized in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 30th of March 2008. Also, the world youth championship has been approved to be organized in Italy during 8-12/7/2009.