Shenzhen named second Chinese meet for 2022 Diamond League

PARIS: Shenzhen will be the second Chinese city to host a meet in the 2022 Diamond League athletics series, staging the event on August 6, days after Shanghai, organisers confirmed on Tuesday.

China now have two meets of the 14 organised across four different continents, a commitment made in 2019 when Chinese multinational conglomerate Wanda Group become the Diamond League title partner.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he saw no reason why events in China should be an issue despite the recent furore over tennis player Peng Shuai.

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“We’re pleased to be competing globally, China has a strong and current history in track and field,” Coe told journalists in his annual year-end conference call.

“We have a clear and strong set of principles whether it’s human rights or sustainability,” he said before adding: “I’m philosophically opposed to sporting boycotts.

“I experienced them and they tend not to achieve what they set out to achieve.

“We are concerned with all athletes. But better to have dialogue than pull up the drawbridge. No other sector does that.”

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In the Diamond League athletes will compete for points in 13 series meetings from May to September, with the most successful qualifying for the two-day season finale in Zurich.

The season opens in Doha on May 13, followed by the English city of Birmingham, host of the July 28-August 8 Commonwealth Games, and the American city of Eugene, the venue for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

The elite series will then head to Rabat on June 5, before returning to Europe for the rest of the month with meetings in Rome, Oslo, Paris and Stockholm.

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After the July 15-24 world championships, the Diamond League will return to China for the first time since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the Shanghai meet set for July 30 followed by Shenzhen on August 6.

August will then see the series head to Monaco and Lausanne before the last series meeting in Brussels on September 2, with the final in Zurich on September 7-8.

Diamond League 2022 calendar

May 13 – Doha

May 21 – Birmingham/London

May 28 – Eugene, United States

June 5 – Rabat

June 9 – Rome

June 16 – Oslo

June 18 – Paris

June 30 – Stockholm

July 30 – Shanghai, China

August 6 – Shenzhen, Chinq

August 10 – Monaco

August 26 – Lausanne

September 2 – Brussels

September 7/8 – Zurich