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Beijing awarded top athletics event

Beijing's iconic "Bird's Nest" national stadium will host the 15th edition of the World Athletics Championships.
Beijing's iconic "Bird's Nest" national stadium will host the 15th edition of the World Athletics Championships.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The 15th edition of the World Athletics Championships will be held in China
  • Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Olympics, named as fourth Asian city to stage event
  • China continues dominance of the Asian Games it is hosting in Guangzhou
  • Clean sweep of seven table tennis titles extends China's gold medal tally to 138

(CNN) -- China will host the World Athletics Championships for the first time in 2015, when Beijing will become the fourth Asian city to stage the biennial event.

Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, will follow in the footsteps of Japan's Tokyo (1991) and Osaka (2007), and South Korea's Daegu -- which will host next year's 13th edition.

"To help build up our sport and the culture of athletics in a country of 1.6 billion inhabitants is a great opportunity," International Association of Athletics Federation president Lamine Diack said in a statement on Saturday.

"As we sometimes say, China is not a country, it's a continent. So this is a fantastic opportunity for our sport and for the sport in China."

China is not a country, it's a continent. So this is a fantastic opportunity for our sport and for the sport in China
--IAAF president Lamine Diack
RELATED TOPICS
  • China
  • Beijing
  • Track and Field
  • Sports

China, which hosted the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, has targeted top athletics events since the 1980s.

"This is the most important sporting event for China since the 2008 Olympic Games," Beijing's Vice-Mayor Liu Jingmin told the IAAF website.

"We thank you for your trust. We will deliver a high standard event in Beijing which will open a new chapter in the Championships' standards."

Meanwhile, China continued its dominance of the Asian Games it is hosting in Guangzhou on Saturday, extending its gold medal tally to 138.

South Korea remained second with 52 golds, while Japan has 29 ahead of Iran on eight and Hong Kong and Thailand (both seven).

China completed a clean sweep of the seven table tennis titles, with No. 1 Ma Long coming from behind to beat compatriot and defending champion Wang Hao 9-11 11-8 11-7 11-3 4-11 12-10 in the men's final.

Li Xiaoxia won the women's gold, beating her doubles partner and defending champion Guo Yue after saving a match-point in the sixth game.

Wang Shixian won the women's badminton singles title in another all-Chinese final, upsetting top-ranked Wang Xin.

But China was denied gold in the men's snooker, with Hong Kong's Marco Fu beating two-time defending champion Ding Junhui 4-2 in the final.

And its women's football team will not contest Monday's title match after losing 1-0 in the semifinals to Japan, with Shinobu Ohno scoring an extra-time winner.

Japan will face North Korea, who also needed extra-time before beating South Korea 3-1.