Tiny turnout for first morning at Khalifa Stadium

DOHA, Dec 8 (Reuters) A week after a packed house watched the Asian Games opening ceremony at the Khalifa Stadium, a couple of hundred hardy souls braved miserable weather today morning to witness the first athletics events at the arena.

Rain drizzled down on some 200 to 250 spectators lost in the state-of-the-art 50,000-seater stadium during the first session, which featured the heptathlon 100m and high jump as well as the men's long jump heats.

Organisers had scheduled a top class session for later today with the hope of attracting a bumper crowd for what is a day of rest for most people in Qatar.

An Achilles injury to Qatar's Kenyan-born 3,000m steeplechase world record holder Shaheen Saif Saaeed and the withdrawal of Japan's Olympic champion hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, however, have taken some of the gloss off the programme.

Qatar, which is planning to launch a bid to host the 2016 Olympics early next year, has a population of about 800,000, more than half of whom are immigrant workers.

Reuters SAM GC1634