Diamond League gets second China meet

PARIS: The Diamond League international athletics series will expand to 15 meetings next season with an additional event in China, organisers have announced.

The IAAF said in a statement that 15 meetings will be staged between April 17 and September 11, one more than this year with an additional date in China at a venue yet to be decided. The Stockholm Diamond League meeting is retained despite a plan announced earlier this year to exclude it for 2020 in a bid to streamline the series while widening its appeal.

A decision to replace the traditional two-meeting final of the league by one final meeting in Zurich is maintained.

The second event in China, scheduled for May 10 in addition to the Shanghai meeting a week later, follows the announcement of a new sponsorship deal with China’s Wanda Sports Group, the statement said. The IAAF also decided to cut the broadcast time of individual meetings from two hours to 90 minutes.

“The Diamond League is our shop window and we want to attract new fans with a fast, action-packed format that is commercially attractive to broadcasters and partners,” said IAAF president Sebastian Coe. “That approach has already been endorsed by our new title sponsor Wanda.”