Boost for athletics if Daegu were to get 2011 world champs: organisers

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

DOHA (AFP) — The flagging sport of athletics would receive another welcome shot in the arm should the South Korean city of Daegu be named as host of the 2011 world championships, bid organisers have said. Daegu is bidding against the Australian city of Brisbane, Moscow, Valencia in Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United States to host the biannual nine-day athletics extravaganza.

And Yoo Chong-Ha, the president of the Daegu bid committee, believes athletics' governing body, the IAAF, could only profit from handing the city the chance to host the worlds, which attracts more than 3,000 top-class athletes competing in 46 disciplines. "World championships have until now always been held in Europe except from once in Tokyo and once in Edmonton, Canada," Yoo told...