An "aspirational" falcon called Falah, who is also "competitive and courageous", was officially unveiled as the World Athletics Championships' mascot on Tuesday, which will take place in Qatar this year.

"The falcon, to us in Qatar and to all the Arab countries, it means a lot," said Dahlan al-Hamad, president of the Qatar Athletics Federation and vice-president of the IAAF. "The falcon represents the speed, represents the vision, represents the hunting of the target to be in the front." Hamad added that everything was "on schedule" for the championships, the first ever to be held in the Middle East, and which start on September 28.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019