Finally!
Here we come, the Digicel Bula Boys. We reached our destination after 33 hours of travel.
An early start on Saturday leaving the Fiji FA Academy, Ba, at 5am for Nadi International Airport bound for Sydney, Australia, in the 9.30am FJ911 flight.
A smooth check-in at the counter as I was ready with all the mandatory entry requirements for both Sydney and Qatar.
The players were all smartly dressed and could see the seriousness on their faces knowing what is at stake.
We arrived in Sydney and headed straight to the Qatar transit counter for every member’s pre-registration to enter the State of Qatar.
We had nine hours transit in Sydney before heading off to the longest flight of 15 hours to the destination which we had been longing for since 2020.
We touched down at the Hamad International Airport at about 5am Qatar time and took a little while to get everything cleared off the customs as it was a full flight on board QR909.
Twenty-one players and eight officials touched down except captain Roy Krishna, who would be joining us in the latter stages of our preparation.
Without wasting any time, we headed off to our base camp at Hyatt Regency Oryx Hotel, checked-in, changed uniforms and went off to the nearby park for a light run.
Jet-lagged seemed obvious as everyone’s energy level was deteriorating, hence everyone headed straight to their rooms after breakfast.
It was only for the alarm clocks and wake-up calls from the reception that most of them managed to come for the late lunch.
Adapting to the time is another challenge as Fiji is nine hours ahead of Qatar.
Our first official training session was held at 8pm at the Qatar University ground.
We have scheduled our training in the evening, just to align and acclimatise our players as all our matches will be at 8pm.
Back to the hotel. Shower, change, dinner, devotion, physio clinics, catching up with families and off to bed.
Goodnight from Doha, Qatar!
