Kenya’s hopes of hosting the senior World Athletics Championships for the first time in history were dashed after World Athletics Organisation, declared that Tokyo will host the 2025 edition.
Kenya had submitted a bid to host the championship in 2025, but World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said Tokyo had been awarded the hosting rights.
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| World athletics championships 2020. Image: [courtesy] |
The Japanese capital, which hosted the Olympic Games last year, won the bid over the Polish city ofSilesia and Singapore to host the 2025 editions.
“Within an extremely strong field of candidates to host the World Athletics Championships 2025, Tokyo offered a compelling bid. I hope this will be a shining light for Japan as they celebrate 100 years of the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) in 2025, by bringing world-class athletics back to the people in Tokyo,” Coe said in a statement.
In response, JAAF President Mitsugi Ogata said: “We are immensely proud that World Athletics has demonstrated its confidence and trust in Japan to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Together with World Athletics as one team, we will capitalize on this opportunity to showcase the best possible global event for growing our sport to a higher level.
After successfully hosting the World Under-20 Championships in 2018 and the World Under-18 Championships in 2017, as well as three editions of the Kip Keino Classic, a stop on the World Athletics Continental Gold Tour, Kenya had maintained its confidence in its ability to host the championship.
Kenya’s effort to host the event, which would have been Africa’s first-ever staging of the 10-day Championship, was spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Earlier in May, the Head of State had said: “Because of the infrastructure we have developed, we are very hopeful we are well prepared that in 2025 our country will have the pride and pleasure of hosting the first World Athletics Championships to be held on the African continent.”
Kenya will now reconsider its decision to make a bid for the 2027 exhibition.
