New Delhi, Feb 29 ( IANS) Beijing will host the 2027 World Athletics Championships, the global governing body of the sport has announced.
The decision was made at the 234th World Athletics Council Meeting, held in Glasgow on Wednesday ahead of the World Athletics Indoor Championships, March 1-3 March.
The 2027 World Athletics Championships will welcome the sport’s biggest stars back to the Beijing, 12 years on from the Chinese capital’s successful staging of athletics’ flagship event and almost two decades on from the Beijing Olympic Games.
China will also host next year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships, in Nanjing.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: "Congratulations to Beijing on their successful bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2027, 12 years after our athletes lit up the National Stadium for the 15th edition of our global showpiece.
"With a population of more than 1.4 billion, China is one of the biggest sports markets in the world. It was the top performer for Wanda Diamond League broadcast consumption in 2023 with a cumulative audience of 368.9 million. This poses a massive opportunity to grow our sport and fan base in one of the biggest commercial markets in the world.
"With the announcement of China as our next host, our last four World Athletics Championships have now been awarded to the world’s four largest economies; the USA (Oregon), the EU (Budapest), Japan (Tokyo) and China (Beijing)."
Wang Nan, World Athletics Council Member and Vice President of the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), said: “Thank you to World Athletics for the recognition and trust in China and Beijing. The CAA will work together with the Beijing organising committee to make every effort to prepare for the championships, ensure that the championships will be held to the highest quality standard, and strive to present a wonderful World Athletics Championships to make more contributions to the development of athletics across the world.”
The last edition of the World Athletics Championships was held in Budapest in August, while Tokyo will host the 2025 event.
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