MUMBAI: IAAF President Sebastian Coe has confirmed that the governing body of world athletics plans to expand the prestigious Diamond League to Asian countries such as India during the next four to five years, Press Trust of India reports.
The Diamond League is a 14-leg series in which top athletes compete for prize money and points. It was established in 2010 to replace the Golden League to take the sport beyond Europe and as IAAF’s contract with the event sponsors draws to an end, discussions are being held to take it to new cities.
“The concentration of Diamond League or world events has historically been in European countries. We want to maintain that strength, but we have to make sure that big cities are hosting our sport, cities like Delhi, Tokyo, Beijing in Asia.
“We have one more year with the Diamond League contract. Those discussions are taking place at the moment but I want to see our world events being spread around the world. I want to see the sport in big populations, in big cities and this has to be the objective.
“Next year we have Asian Athletics Championship in Doha, then the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World Indoor Championship in Nanjing in 2020. Asia is going to be the focus of the sport for next four or five years,” Coe, also a two-time 1500m Olympic champion, was quoted as saying to PTI on the sidelines of the on-going Asian Games in Jakarta.
He lauded the progress of Indian athletes such as Neeraj Chopra as well as Hima Das, who also won the 400m Silver medal at the Asian Games besides her U-20 Gold medal world championship win in Finland two months ago. Impressive on-field performances have raised India’s profile to a massive extent.
“She was very impressive. I was in the stadium. In know the impact that had in India. This is a good sign, athletics is beginning to grab the consciousness of the population. I remember the CWG in 2010, you had stadiums full every night.
“It is very encouraging, India is a very important country for the potential to grow our sport. You have a federation which is very ambitious to grow the sport.
“I see India as very important for helping us globalise our sport and there is a huge sponsorship and broadcast market which is something we should be doing a lot more work in. That’s the objective of the IAAF,” Coe noted.
When it comes to innovations in the sport, he stressed that it was the need of the hour but any experimentation had to be done smartly. Coe was talking in the context of the mixed relay event, with two men and two women athletes competing together as a team, which will make its debut at this edition of the Asian Games.
Whereas, the Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) style will make its debut the European Games next year in which mixed-gender teams will compete in a knockout format over five days with the action concluding in two hours.
“We have had mixed relay in 2015 at the world youth championships, the world relay event in Bahamas was particularly successful. They will be in 2020 in Tokyo and we showcase one in Doha to globalise it before we take it to Tokyo.
“We have to be creative and innovative and do things differently. We will review the impact now and the next year. Obviously we can’t have it in every event but it’s a good sign. It has got a new dimension.
“Every sport is looking to do things differently. It does not always mean, it will be successful, it does not always mean that you take it to mainstream.”
