• Schedule: Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe 2019

Throwers took center stage as the 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships got underway in Doha on Sunday. Gong Lijiao and Lyu Huihui of China and Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi admirably lived up to their roles as favorites in the shot put, javelin and discus throw, respectively, as they scouted the facilities in the Qatari capital five months before Khalifa Stadium will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.

Kenya’s Felix Kimutai and Afera Godfay of Ethiopia raced to course records at the Yellow River Estuary International Marathon, in the Chinese city of Dongying. Contesting his first race in China, the 30-year-old Kimutai pulled clear with six kilometers to go to secure the victory in 2:09:23. Godfay outraced race favorite Waganesh Mekasha and set her career best and course record of 2:22:41.

Former Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop has received a four-year ban for doping. The Kenyan, a three-time world champion, tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition test in November 2017. The 29-year-old had maintained his innocence and claimed his sample may have been tampered with. But an anti-doping panel said "the case against the athlete is convincingly made out".

Triple European champion Dina Asher-Smith and reigning world and European champion Ramil Guliyev will both launch their seasons in earnest over 200m in the Doha Diamond League on 3 May. Asher-Smith won gold medals in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay at the European Championships. Guliyev held off world 400m record-holder van Niekerk to clinch the world title over 200m in London 2017.