Gong Lijao, photo by PhotoRun.net
MONACO (MON): During the second and final day of the 212th IAAF Council Meeting following three passionate and technically high level presentations made by all three candidates, the Chinese city of Nanjing was awarded the IAAF World Indoor Championships 2020. Athletes of the past and present played a central role in the presentations. They included China’s reigning world shot put champion Gong Lijiao, Serbia’s reigning European outdoor and indoor long jump gold medallist Ivana Spanovic and Poland’s 2002 European Indoor 400m champion Marek Plawgo. Nanjing, a city of more than 8 million, staged the 2014 Olympic Youth Games and will build a stadium specifically for the world indoor championships in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park. The indoor champs will be for first time in China and for third time in Asia after Maebashi 1999 and Doha 2010.