FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 Doha Kicks Off Tomorrow

Doha, November 06 (QNA) - The FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 Doha will kick off tomorrow, with the participation of the world's best swimmers competing at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Aspire Zone. Organized by Qatar Swimming Association QSA, a total of 210 athletes - 134 male and 76 female participants - representing 44 countries, in addition to 60 club swimmers will compete in the event. The competition, which will take place from November 7 to 9, will be the last meet of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2019 series, involving seven cities. It will be the eighth consecutive year for Doha to host a FINA Swimming World Cup event. Australia will send the biggest team consisting of 22 swimmers to Doha, while Poland will have the second biggest squad comprising 13 athletes. Austria and Chinese Taipei's teams will have 11 swimmers each. Swimmers will come to Doha from Kazan, Russia (November 1 to 3) - the sixth stop, which is hosting the first event of the third and final cluster. Multiple gold medalists at 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju - Cate Campbell (AUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) - will lead the women's field at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, where the winners of cluster 3 and the overall champions will be announced. After the fifth meet in Berlin, Campbell was leading the overall ranking with 243 points, and was followed by the 'Iron Lady' Hosszu with 240 points. Michelle Coleman (SWE), who was third after the Berlin meet, will also participate alongside Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) and Kira Toussaint (NED) besides several other stars. The men's field includes Vladimir Morozov - the overall leader after the Berlin meet - and Danas Rapsys (LTU) - following the Russian star at second place - competing for medals. South Africa's Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion, Chad Le Clos will also return to Doha. Anton Chupkov (RUS), a world record holder in 200m breaststroke, Michael Andrew (USA) and Arno Kamminga (NED) are among the other leading male swimmers confirmed. Qatar will field 17 swimmers, who will compete against the world's best athletes in front of home fans. The squad includes young talent like Abdulaziz Hassan Al Obaidly, Yacob Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi, Yousef Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi and Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamed. Qatari swimmers showed outstanding performance at the 27th GCC Aquatics Championships in Kuwait in September, winning 34 medals including 17 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals. (QNA)