11/20/2010

Beijing awarded top athletics event

T1larg.nest.gi

Beijing's iconic "Bird's Nest" national stadium will host the 15th edition of the World Athletics Championships

China will host the World Athletics Championships for the first time in 2015, when Beijing will become the fourth Asian city to stage the biennial event.

Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, will follow in the footsteps of Japan's Tokyo (1991) and Osaka (2007), and South Korea's Daegu -- which will host next year's 13th edition.

"To help build up our sport and the culture of athletics in a country of 1.6 billion inhabitants is a great opportunity," International Association of Athletics Federation president Lamine Diack said in a statement on Saturday.

"As we sometimes say, China is not a country, it's a continent. So this is a fantastic opportunity for our sport and for the sport in China."

China, which hosted the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, has targeted top athletics events since the 1980s.

"This is the most important sporting event for China since the 2008 Olympic Games," Beijing's Vice-Mayor Liu Jingmin told the IAAF website.

"We thank you for your trust. We will deliver a high standard event in Beijing which will open a new chapter in the Championships' standards."

Read more at CNN

Nov 20, 2010 2:22:02 PM | Current Affairs, Sports

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