MODERN PENTATHLON: Australia's two selected athletes for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Chloe and Max Esposito, will compete for the prestigious title of UIPM 2015 Champion of Champions, Friday and Saturday in Qatar.

With the 2016 Olympic Games now very much on the horizon, the 2015 elite season comes to an end with a high-class competition between 36 invited athletes from 17 countries in one of Modern Pentathlon’s newest and most exciting venues in Doha.

Champion of Champions was inaugurated in Sicily, Italy, in 2011 and earlier this year UIPM signed a deal for the Qatar Olympic Committee and Qatar Modern Pentathlon Federation to host the next three editions in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

This year’s instalment, staged at the QF Al Shaqab and Recreation Center, begins with a Women’s Individual event (Nov 27) followed by the Men’s Individual competition (Nov 28).

The favourite for the men’s gold medal will be World No.2 Riccardo de Luca (Italy), who won the 2015 UIPM World Cup series, although he is sure to face stiff competition. European champion Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe (Ireland) also lines up in Doha, as are top-10-ranked athletes Amro El Geziry (Egypt), Charles Fernandez (Guatemala) and Woongtae Jun, who leads a three-strong Korean team.

In the women’s event, the highest-ranked competitor is world No.6 Chloe Esposito (Australia) and she will find high-class competition coming from all continents. Her rivals for the podium in Doha will include Melanie McCann (Canada), Tamara Vega (Mexico), Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus) and Leidis Laura Moya (Cuba), while Haydy Morsy (Egypt) is one of the most exciting youngsters in the sport aged 16.

2015 UIPM Champion of Champions: Invited Athletes

Men’s Individual: Max Esposito (AUS), Pavel Tsikhanau (BLR), Esteban Bustos (CHI), Jose Figueroa (CUB), Eslam Hamad, Amro El Geziry (EGY), Charles Fernandez (GUA), Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe (IRL), Riccardo de Luca (ITA), Pavel Ilyashenko (KAZ), Woongtae Jun, Jinhwa Jung, Woo Jin Lee (KOR), Justinas Kinderis (LTU), Ismael Hernandez, Jorge Inzunza (MEX), Denys Pavlyuk, Andriy Fedechko (UKR).

Women’s Individual: Chloe Esposito (AUS), Iryna Prasiantsova, Anastasiya Prokopenko (BLR), Melanie McCann, Donna Vakalis (CAN), Leidis Laura Moya (CUB), Haydy Morsy (EGY), Marta Garcia-Miguel (ESP), Janine Kohlmann, Annika Schleu (GER), Lavinia Bonessio (ITA), Natsumi Tomonaga (JPN), Mina Jeong, Soo Jin Yang (KOR), Gintare Venckauskaite (LTU), Tamara Vega, Mayan Oliver (MEX), Samantha Achterberg (USA).

UIPM