IAAF happy with preparations for 2015 Beijing World Championships

Beijing, February 10 (IANS)

A senior International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) official on Tuesday expressed his satisfaction with the preparations for the 2015 Beijing World Championships to be held from August 22^nd to 30^th.

“With six months to go, the organising committee is nearly ready. All is well prepared. We were having a two-day meeting with the organizing committee and this meeting was very successful,” IAAF Council member and Chairman of IAAF Coordination Committee Helmut Digel was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

“The organising committee is having a lot of good ideas. The opening ceremony of our championships will be very special,” Digel added.

The 2015 IAAF World Championships will be held in Beijing's National Stadium, the first time for the biennial track and field gala to come to China.

Known as the "Bird's Nest", the National Stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics events of the 2008 Olympic Games.

“We are beginning our ticket launch at the end of march. And we will have a lot of activities to promote this outstanding event,” Digel said.

“Usain Bolt himself is going to be our ambassador as well as Yelena Isinbayeva, our famous pole vault hero.”

The organisers had also selected seven Chinese track and field athletes to work as promotion ambassadors for the event. The list includes 2004 Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang, 2012 Olympic race walking gold medallist Chen Ding as well as the rising long jumper Li Jinzhe, who finished second at the 2013 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

“To summarise, we are perfectly in time and the organising committee is really working professionally. We believe these World Championships are going to be our biggest success,” Digel added.