Blake to run at opening Doha Diamond League meeting

Jamaica's 100 metres world champion Yohan Blake is the first high-profile athlete to sign up for the opening Diamond League event in Doha, organisers said on Monday.

The meeting on May 10 in Qatar is the first of the 14 Diamond League fixtures.

"This will be my first time in Qatar and I am looking forward to going to Doha, for my first Diamond League appearance on the Asian continent," Blake said in a IAAF statement.

"I have heard about the fast track in Doha and I hope to break the meeting record (9.85 seconds, Olusoji Fasuba, 2006). I always want to surprise the audience, everywhere I go.

"I am the second fastest man in the world at the moment. My ambition is to become the best. I have to continue working very hard for that. Anything is possible."

Blake, 23, won silver in the 100 and 200 behind compatriot Usain Bolt at the London 2012 Olympics and was part of the world record-breaking 4x100 gold medal-winning Jamaican quartet.

Photograph: Gilbert Bellamy/Reuters