Italy and Poland Replace Russia as IAAF Championship Hosts

(ATR) The IAAF Council will enlist Rome, Italy and Bydgoszcz, Poland to replace Russia as the hosts of two athletics world championships in 2016.

Rome will play host to the World Race Waling Team Championship from May 7-8, beating out contenders Guayaquil, Ecuador, Kiev, Ukraine and Monterrey, Mexicowith nine out of 19 votes. Guayaquil and Kiev each received four votes while Monterrey received two.

IAAF president Seb Coe did not vote in the decision and says he will not participate in any future host city decisions for the sake of neutrality.

Bydgoszcz, Poland is the only city to submit a bid for the World U20 (Junior) Championships scheduled for July 19-24. Australia and India also had expressed interest in the event but did not submit formal bids.

"Many congratulations to Rome and Bydgoszcz," said IAAF president Seb Coe. "Your bids were impressive and we look forward to celebrating the achievements of the world’s best race walkers and under-20 aged athletes in your cities."

Coe thanked all of the applicant cities for their willingness to step up and submit bids in such short notice following the suspension of the All-Russian Athletics Federation. The IAAF opened the bidding process on Dec. 3 and received seven letters of interest for the two events.

Russian cities Cheboksary and Kazan were originally scheduled to host the events but can no longer stage the tournaments as a result of the country’s doping violations exposed by the WADA Independent Commission report in November.

The Independent Commission chairman Richard Pound says the second part of his report will be released in one week. He warns the results of the report will be "shocking".

Written by KevinNutley

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