Hong Kong race walker Ching Siu-nga hoping to beat the heat at world championships in Doha

Hong Kong race walker Ching Siu-nga continues her quest for automatic qualification for the 2020 Toyko Olympics this weekend when she rubs shoulders with the world’s best athletes in Doha.

Hong Kong’s sole representative at the IAAF World Championships starting in the Middle East city on Friday, Ching will be competing in her second Worlds after finishing 35th in London two years ago.

Although organisers are starting the race just before midnight on Sunday (11.30pm local time), Ching believes the desert weather will still be too demanding for athletes. Temperatures are expected to be between 30 and 39 degrees Celsius.

“I have done a lot of kilometres and speed [work] in the past few months and I am physically and mentally ready for the Worlds,” said Ching, who arrived in the Qatar capital early this week to acclimatise.

“My target is always to reach the Olympic entry standard but considering the weather conditions here, I’d rather set my goal of getting a better position than I did in London two years ago.”

Ching set a Hong Kong record of one hour, 35 minutes and four seconds at the 2017 world championships in London, and the 32-year-old has made remarkable progress as she walks her road to next year’s Tokyo Games.

Ching shattered her own record of 1:32:30 at the Japanese 20km Race Walking Championships in Kobe in February. She also came third in the Asian Championships in Nomi, Japan in 1:34:17 a month later.

The combined results have boosted her world ranking to 45th, which almost ensures Olympic qualification. It is expected about half of the quota of 60 competitors will be made by beating the qualifying time of 1:31, with the rest relying on the rankings.

With a maximum three athletes from one country allowed in the event, Ching issitting pretty for a place, but she is still targeting the qualification time before it ends in June next year.

“My condition shows I can get it if the weather is working for me in an event,” she said. “I am planning to compete in Kobe again in February and it will be my target of making it there.”