With the Olympics now but months away, athletes the world over shall be warming up and, they hope, qualifying for Tokyo 2020, via a number of global sporting meets. Nanjing is to feature prominently on many of their calendars.
So it is that the Nanjing Sports Competition and Social Sports Management Centre has announced its sporting calendar for Nanjing in 2020. It reveals that approximately 30 international sporting competitions shall take place in Nanjing this year.
Shou Lihua, head of the Management Centre, describes approximately ten of the events as being “high end”.
Topping the bill is the IAAF World Indoor Championship, to be held from 13-15 March. It is the first time China has hosted the Championships, following Nanjing’s selection back in 2017. Nanjing beat Belgrade and Torun to win host city status.
After the city’s appointment, IAAF President, Sebastian Coe, KBE, said, “I look forward to celebrating the very best of world athletics in 2020 in Nanjing. The hosting of these championships will assist the development of an already established and growing culture of athletics in the country”.
From 1-5 July, Nanjing once again plays host to the finals of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League. Scheduled to take place earlier this year on account of the Olympics, the women’s VNL is also an important warm-up opportunity for Tokyo 2020.
In addition, competitive events in the fields of marathons, roller skating and cycling are to follow in Nanjing in 2020.
Nanjing has long been regarded as a sporting city. The Olympic Centre was built especially to host the China National Games of 2005. There then came the Asian Youth Games in 2013 and the Summer Youth Olympics in 2014.
In more recent years, a growing variety of important sporting meets have also taken place in Nanjing. There was the 2016 World Speed Roller Skating Championships, the 2017 World Roller Games, the 2018 Badminton World Championships and the Nanjing leg of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
