The Qatari capital is ready to host a memorable IAAF World Championships

Having played host to events such as the Asian Games, as well as football’s Gulf Cup and AFC Asian Cup, Doha is no stranger to staging high-profile sporting showpieces. Things are about to step up a level, however.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is on the horizon, but first comes this year’s IAAF World Athletics Championships which will turn a global gaze towards the Qatari capital.

Athletics is a regular fixture on the sporting calendar in this part of the world and the Diamond League meeting at the Khalifa Stadium – venue for the world championships – in May heralded the start of what has already been an eventful season.

A number of the big-name stars have whetted the appetite for what lies ahead and shown they mean business on the track and in the field this year.

Britain’s triple European champion Dina Asher-Smith has shown remarkable form, for example, while on the men’s sprinting side, Noah Lyles’ scorching 200m in Lausanne is still fresh in the memory.

Qatari stars Abderrahman Samba, the Diamond League winner who ran the quickest time for the 400m hurdles since 1992 (46.98) last year and started the year in fine form, as well as world champion high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, will also be under the microscope in this season which has taken on an added dimension given its increased length due to Doha 2019 getting underway on September 27.

The mercury will be high at that time but the Khalifa Stadium has been transformed into an ultra-modern venue equipped with cutting-edge features such as air-conditioning technology, LED lighting and digital floodlights, providing optimal performance conditions for athletes and a great viewing experience for spectators.

Away from the stadium there is plenty for visitors to Doha to discover and take in.

From shopping at the bustling Souq Waqif, to desert adventures and stunning cultural experiences, the tourist options on offer are remarkably rich and varied.

With a world-class stage set, the world’s best athletes primed for competition and a city ready to welcome the world, this will be a championships to remember.

Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones has signed a new contract to keep him at Ospreys until June 2021.

The announcement ended months of speculation over the British and Irish Lion's future after the 2019 World Cup.

The 33-year-old lock remains contracted to Ospreys and the Welsh Rugby Union.

"It is the right decision for my career at this point in time, along with my personal ambitions on and off the field, my welfare and needs of my family," said Jones on social media.

"I'm grateful to have the opportunity to tell you directly, in particular to the Ospreys supporters and all those who have supported me during my career to date."

Jones made his debut for Ospreys in 2005 and has spent his entire senior career there, during which he has made 125 Wales appearances and nine for the Lions on tours in 2009, 2013 and 2017.

He had been linked with moves to Bath and Bristol, but will remain at Liberty Stadium "after serious consideration and taking stock of all options".

The British and Irish Lions will be touring South Africa in 2021, when Jones will be 35.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) announced it was planning to scrap national dual contracts but this extension for the Wales captain appears to be an exception.

"This announcement is a huge boost for Welsh rugby," said WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips.

"I'm sure the news will delight Wales and Ospreys supporters alike as he continues to inspire the next generation.

"The extension allows the WRU and the Ospreys to continue working together with Alun Wyn to ensure he has the very best of environments to thrive in."

Ospreys head coach Allen Clarke said: "Alun Wyn is a man I have the upmost respect for. He is greatly admired not just because of what he's achieved and what he represents as a local boy playing for his home region and country, but importantly because of the ambition and level of performance he consistently displays.

"He's a tremendous individual and a winner with a deep hunger for the Ospreys to be successful on and off the field.

"Alun Wyn has spent his entire career with the Ospreys and I expect him to continue his legacy as a player, and well beyond his playing days."

Neymar will report to Paris Saint-Germain's preseason training on July 15, something the French club had been informed of weeks ago, according to the player's father and agent.

PSG announced they would take "appropriate action" against the Brazil forward after he failed to turn up for the first day of training on Monday, a move that Neymar Sr. laments.

- When does the transfer window close?

"We had commercial and institutional commitments [on July 12, 13] ) set," Neymar Sr. told Fox Sports Brasil. "For the past five years, [Neymar's] institute takes part in those.

"PSG, with the presence of president Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] included, took part in those events. I don't understand the reason for this arbitrariness. We are annoyed by this but PSG knew about this situation."

Instituto Neymar Jr. is a "non-profit civil society organisation dedicated to social causes and serving thousands of children, adolescents and their families," according to NR Sports, the company which manages the ex-Barcelona man's career and image rights.

PSG sporting director Leonardo said those dates "were not agreed with PSG" and added Neymar would face the same consequences as "any other employee" for his unapproved absence.

Neymar has been strongly linked with former club Barcelona in recent months and Leonardo said Neymar can leave the club this summer if the right offer comes along.

However, while Leonardo added there had been "superficial contact" with Barca, the French champions had not received any offers for the 27-year-old.

UOL Esporte reported Neymar spoke to Leonardo, who presented his team project to the player. However, according to the Brazilian outlet, while Neymar praised the ideas of the new sporting director, he reiterated his wish to leave PSG this summer.

Neymar, who joined PSG in a world-record €222 million transfer from Barcelona in 2017, has three years left on his contract with the Ligue 1 giants.

He missed the Copa America, which his country hosted and won, due to a ligament ankle injury sustained during the team's preparations for the tournament.

Ander Herrera has said his decision to leave Manchester United for Paris Saint-Germain was triggered by a lack of urgency from the club in contract negotiations as well as questions over his role in the side.

PSG signed Herrera, who joined United from Athletic Bilbao in 2014, on a five-year deal after the midfielder ran down his contract.

- When does the transfer window close?

"I do not like looking at the past very much, but there were differences regarding the project and my importance within it," Herrera told Spanish newspaper Marca.

"I was very happy, I have a lot to thank the club and the fans for it and also to [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer.

"He did a lot for me to stay, but things did not happen, they arrived late, and by then I had already made the decision to play in Paris..."

Herrera made 189 appearances for United and scored 20 goals, winning the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League in his time at the club.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was filmed in an apparent row with teammate Jesse Lingard on the club's preseason tour of Australia.

Pogba, who has two more years remaining on his United contract, has been linked with a move to either Real Madrid or Juventus after his agent said he is ready to leave and a transfer is "in the process."

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United posted a 79-second video on its official Twitter page on Monday of players walking through Perth, and 11 seconds in there appears to be a spat between Pogba and Lingard.

Nothing like a walk to stretch the legs after a 16-hour flight ?? #MUFC #MUTOUR pic.twitter.com/3jc4dfVNpx

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 8, 2019

Pogba is seen exchanging strong words with Lingard as they are walking, before Pogba makes a movement towards his teammate.

Defender Victor Lindelof then grabs hold of Pogba from behind in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

It is unclear what happened next because the video cuts to a different section of the player group.

The heated exchange will further fuel talk that World Cup winner Pogba is on his way out.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been involved in top-level football long enough to identify a pivotal moment when one arrives, so the Manchester United manager should not be in any doubt as to the challenge he faces over the coming days. The Norwegian is fighting for credibility, both within the dressing room and among the supporters, and it is not simply about what happens with Paul Pogba.

It has now become the norm for United that their preseason preparations are played out to the backdrop of a seemingly endless saga and, as Solskjaer's squad landed in Perth on Monday for the first leg of their summer tour of Australia, Singapore and China, Pogba had already ensured that he would be the central figure in this year's Old Trafford soap opera. The France midfielder, who posted video on social media over the weekend of his personal running sessions in New York's Central Park, has already spoken of his desire for a "new challenge" this summer, while his agent, Mino Raiola, confirmed last week that his client was seeking to leave United before the start of the 2019-20 season.

- Pogba, Lingard filmed in apparent row on club tour
- How should United respond if Pogba wants out?

United have insisted that Pogba is not for sale, but sources have told ESPN FC that Solskjaer and his coaching staff were prepared for a public war of wills involving the club and the player, knowing that every decision and every comment in the media would have to be carefully considered and delivered in order to maintain some element of control over the situation. But the Pogba saga is likely to be the easy part of the summer for Solskjaer. If he persuades him to stay, Solskjaer will have kept his best player, yet if he sanctions his departure, the United manager will instantly receive the backing of a fan base that has grown tired of the 26-year-old and his unconvincing performances on the pitch and, at times, infuriating behaviour off it.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Pogba is also not universally popular among the playing squad, with some teammates exasperated by the £89 million signing from Juventus and his failure to live up to his reputation as one of the world's best midfielders. But while there is scepticism over Pogba's ability, or desire, to make a difference, there is also a group of players at United who want to see more from Solskjaer and his coaches in order to be convinced that the team is heading in the right direction.

One source has told ESPN FC that there were concerns within the squad's foreign contingent as early as February -- when Solskjaer was still unbeaten in his role as caretaker-manager -- that the approach under the former Cardiff City manager was "too British" and lacking in continental expertise. The same source has claimed that last week's training regime was "just running, running, running," with players forced to do double sessions on their first week back in preseason following Solskjaer's decision to bring the squad back as early as July 1 to start preparations for the new campaign.

Complaints about a heavy training workload are likely to receive short shrift from Solskjaer and his coaches, with ESPN FC reporting in May that Solskjaer and his assistant, Mike Phelan, had been dismayed by the poor fitness levels of the squad following their arrival in place of the sacked Jose Mourinho last December. Solskjaer and Phelan are determined to ensure that a vast improvement on basic fitness levels are dealt with as a priority, so there are likely to be more demands placed on the players during their first week on tour in Australia.

However, one of the first mistakes made by David Moyes during his ill-fated 10-month reign as manager in 2013-14 was to focus too heavily on fitness rather than technique and the Scot struggled, and ultimately failed, to convince the players of his fitness-first approach.

- Premier League fixtures 2019-20 in full
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Solskjaer has also travelled to Australia knowing that Pogba is not the only member of his squad who wants to leave. Romelu Lukaku is keen to secure a move to Italy with Inter Milan, David De Gea continues to resist United's attempts to tie him to a new contract, while Nemanja Matic is aware of interest from Inter and AC Milan and prepared to leave Old Trafford for the right offer.

Having allowed Marouane Fellaini to leave for China in January before seeing Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera leave as free agents this summer, Solskjaer's squad is now arguably weaker than when he arrived, with only Swansea youngster Daniel James and Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka being added since the end of last season.

Attempts to sign a new centre-half after seeing the team post United's worst defensive record in Premier League history last season have so far failed to come to fruition, while interest in Newcastle youngster Sean Longstaff has yet to result in a bid, despite the St James' Park outfit being in a state of flux following the exit of manager Rafa Benitez.

After a dismal end to the 2018-19 season, which saw United win just two of their last 12 games in all competitions, Solskjaer was always going to be under pressure to turn the tide this summer. But before a ball has even been kicked in preseason, he is already on the back foot thanks to Pogba, the doubts of some of his players and the failure to make more substantial changes to his squad. So what happens in Australia, Singapore and China over the next two-and-a-half weeks will be crucial for Solskjaer and his hopes of enjoying any kind of success at Old Trafford.

The World Cup knockouts are here! First up, India v New Zealand at Old Trafford. Get all your live updates and analyses on ESPNcricinfo's blog (if it doesn't load for you, please refresh your page).

CLEVELAND -- On the night he hit more than seven miles' worth of home runs, a night that showed the world that he's far more than the name he inherited from his famous father, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched himself into the annals of Home Run Derby history by smashing baseballs in never-before-seen fashion. And that, it turns out, was tiring. Vlad Jr. just wanted a moment to himself, and when he finished answering the final question about his 91-home run performance at the 2019 Derby, he took a breath and said, "Ay dios mio."

Which, actually, summed up the night pretty well. Whether it was his record-setting first round, his epic second-round duel or his going-on-fumes final round, Vlad Jr., the 20-year-old Toronto Blue Jays rookie, will be the enduring memory of the 35th Derby. It would've been nice for him to beat the actual winner, New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso, and take the $1 million prize that came with the victory. Guerrero, like Mark McGwire and Josh Hamilton before him, instead settled for inspiring countless fans and viewers to utter the English translation of what he said exhaustedly as the evening neared its end: "Oh my God."

It's the most succinct summation of what took place on Monday at Progressive Field. Guerrero started the day with eight career major league home runs and questions about whether he belonged in the field when 181 big leaguers have hit more homers than he has this season. He erased some doubts when he deposited the first pitch he saw 462 feet off the scoreboard in left field, cleared them for good when he set a single-round record with 29 home runs in the first round and made them seem laughable after he outlasted Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Joc Pederson in a triple-overtime second-round battle he won 40-39.

Yes, Vlad Jr. hit 40 home runs in a single round: 29 of them in the standard four minutes with 30 seconds of bonus time for hitting balls so far, eight in the minute-long extra period, one in a three-swing tiebreaker and two more in another tiebreaker that Pederson simply couldn't match.

By the time Alonso hit his final home run to win the final 23-22, Guerrero's numbers almost defied belief. He saw 207 pitches. He swung at 195 of them. He homered on 91. He hit 38,641 feet worth of home runs -- the longest 488 feet, the shortest 373, the average more than 424. He finished with 34 more homers in his three rounds than Alonso. He had the seven hardest-hit balls. After one night, he has the second-most home runs in Derby history -- and nearly five times as many as his father, the Hall of Fame outfielder who won the 2007 Derby.

"He was the star of the show," said John Schneider, the Blue Jays coach who might have had the greatest vantage point in the stadium: He was pitching to Guerrero. Schneider didn't exactly take time to admire the balls like the crowd of 36,119. He did, however, see the fruits of his labor flying high into the sky again and again and again from a right-handed swing that is equal parts pretty and ferocious. Five times in the first round Vlad Jr. hit four consecutive pitches for home runs. He dispatched Matt Chapman, a last-second replacement for the top-seeded Christian Yelich, 29-13.

During a practice round this week, Guerrero hit 17 home runs. He wasn't satisfied with the result, Schneider said, but wasn't worried either. Guerrero, Schneider said, declared that he was going to hit 30 in the first round and knock out Yelich. He came close to 30 against Chapman and blew past it in his slugfest with Pederson.

Guerrero's most impressive stretch of the night came in the middle of the second round. In a 2-minute, 1-second window, he swung at 25 pitches and homered on 19 of them. It was reminiscent of Hamilton, who, in a previous format that didn't pit players head-to-head, homered 28 times on 38 swings.

"It's pretty standard for him," said Marcus Stroman, Guerrero's Blue Jays teammate. "It's easy. It's very easy. Didn't surprise me in the slightest."

Pederson's matching Guerrero's 29 home runs to force the minute-long overtime was a tad surprising, and his following Guerrero's eight home runs with eight of his own was perhaps even more so. Pederson was taking the volume approach, swinging 84 times to Guerrero's 73 in those five-and-a-half minutes. Given the advantage of going second, Pederson could only tie Guerrero's one home run in the first swing-off and had two chances to force a fourth tiebreaker but didn't homer on either.

Guerrero laughed as they embraced at home plate following Pederson's final swing. Even if he wouldn't go on to win, he had won by surviving.

"That was elite hitting," Alonso said. "That was some of the best rounds of BP I've ever watched. That was up there with -- I think that was even better than the Josh Hamilton round because both of them going back and forth, and clawing back the way that Joc did, he had his work cut out for him. ... I don't know if we're ever going to see that again. That was special."

Guerrero tried to summon that magic in the final round. Whereas Schneider previously fed him pitches over the heart of the plate, in the final round Guerrero asked him to leave the ball slightly inside so he could cheat to his pull side. Schneider tried to elevate pitches to keep Guerrero from needing to use his tiring legs.

"Kind of did it on adrenaline, I think," Schneider said. "His last round was better than my last round, to be honest. After that second round, it was so mentally and physically exhausting, and he still put up 22, which not many people did that at all."

It more than validated Major League Baseball's choice to invite Guerrero, who entered the season as the most well-regarded hitting prospect in years. Now he has an indelible moment to attach to his name and pedigree, which is the very sort of thing the Derby should serve to do.

"My 15-year-old was all for it," New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said. "Even my girls. They're really not that into baseball, and they were into the Derby."

How couldn't they be? Vlad Jr. vs. expectations in the first round was a resounding KO. Vlad Jr. vs. Joc in the second round turned an exhibition that runs the risk of redundancy into grand theater. Vlad Jr. vs. Alonso was two rookies playing for a prize nearly twice their $555,000 salaries. However high the expectations, the 2019 Derby exceeded them.

Schneider knows. Earlier this week, his wife filled out a Derby bracket and picked Vlad Jr. She asked Schneider how many to choose. Bryce Harper won the previous year with 45, so, Schneider said, probably 55.

He chortled. How quaint. How naïve. He's a coach on the Blue Jays' staff. He knows Guerrero's power. He should've seen something like this coming.

Then again, come on. This was the sort of night even dreamers can't imagine. Home runs upon home runs, miles and miles of them, from a kid with a cherubic face and blond-dyed dreadlocks and a charming smile, and the captured hearts of everyone who saw Vladimir Guerrero Jr. do what he did Monday and couldn't help themselves when they said, "Oh my God."