Coe: Rabat Meeting to enrich the Diamond League tour

In this context, Sebastian Coe said that Morocco have a history in athletics, especially with the long distance athletes, and that for this matter Morocco deserves the honor of organising the first meeting of the league taking place in Africa.

In a statement for Maghreb Arab press agency, on the sidelines of the press conference held on the occasion of the organisation of the seventh edition of the Doha meeting, Coe stated that he was hoping to expand the geographic reach of the diamond league to include Africa, which finally happened in the 2nd of March in Zurich.

The convention of the integration of the Meeting Mohammed VI d’Athlétisme into the Diamond League, in order to replace New york’s meeting, was signed the 2nd of March of the current year in Zurich. Alongside the meetings of London, Brussels, Zurich, Berlin, Oslo, Paris, Manaco, Lausanne, Stockholm, birmingham, Shanghai, Roma, Eugene and Doha, after responding to the required technical criteria.

The president of the Qatar Athletics Federation and member of the IAAF, Dahlan Al-Hamad,  expressed his joy for the integration of Rabat into the rounds of the Diamond League circuit, particulary considering that Rabat deserves to be selected for the Diamond League championships series, especially after the success of the previous editions of the meeting.

Al-Ahmad declared in his response to the Arab Maghreb press agency’s question that “Africa is one of the Athletics leading continents and Morocco is a land with a long history in this sport,as well as being a country that hosted succesful international sporting events, therefore Morocco deserves to be hosting one of the league’s meetings.

Al-Ahmad added that “It’s obvious that the two meetings of Rabat and Doha are collaborating, especially that we are part of the athletics international community. We are going to be present to inaugurate the first round of the Golden League competition in Rabat, in order to support each other”.

The Diamond League gathers the best athletes from around the world to compete in a series of rounds form the 6th of May to the next 9th of September, divided over four continents, knowing that the winners of this year’s edition will be qualified to the next year’s world champion that will be held in London.

The meeting of Doha is the first station out of 14, throughout which 206 athletes will be competing  (125 male and 81 female) representing 50 countries from the five continents.

The list of the participating athletes in the meeting of Doha contains the names of; the 100 meters world champion, the Dutch athlete Dafne Schippers, the tripple jump olympic and world champion, the American Chrsitian Taylor and the olympic kazakh champion Olga Rypakova, along with the 1500 meters olympic and world champion, the Kenyan Asbel Kripop.

Among the exciting programmed events in the Doha meeting is the 3000 meters race which will join the Ethiopian 5000 meters world champions Almaz Ayana and the Kenyan 10000 meters world champion Vivian Cheruiyot on the same track.

It is expected that three Moroccan athletes will take part in the meeting, with the male athletes Hamid Ezzine and Brahim Taleb in the 3000 meters steeplechase, alongside the female athlete Malika El Akkaoui in the 300 meters event.

The Doha meeting includes the following competitions:
Women: 100 meters, 800 meters, 3000 meters, 400 meters hurdles, javelin throw, shot put, tripple jump and pole vault.
Men: 200 meters, 400 meters, 1500 meters, 3000 meters steeplechase, discus throw, high jump and tripple jump.