IAAF plans Diamond League feeder events

By Karolos Grohmann

BERLIN (Reuters) - A second-tier group of events that will feed into the elite Diamond League athletics competition is being planned by the sport's governing body.

"The dream scenario is to have the Diamond League and then area grand prix," International Association of Athletics Federations spokesman Nick Davies told Reuters Wednesday.

"This pool of meetings is to have a transition system to feed into the Diamond League," he said, adding the plan is to have promotion to and relegation from the elite competition.

In a bid to raise the sport's profile and make it more lucrative, the IAAF has created the Diamond League which will include 14 meetings in Europe, the United States, China and the Middle East when it is launched next year.

Its predecessor, the Golden League, consists this year of just six meetings only in Europe.

Germany, long an athletics stronghold, was the most notable absentee from the Diamond League schedule after Berlin Golden League meeting organisers said they would not join for financial reasons.

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Davies said Berlin, the only member of the current six-city Golden League not participating in the Diamond League and the venue for this year's World Athletics Championships, would be part of the new second tier competition.