The European Athletics Council awarded the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships to Belgrade and 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships to Tbilisi at its meeting on Saturday morning in Frankfurt.
The cities of Belgrade, Istanbul and Torun presented their candidacies for the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships and it was decided that the Serbian capital would organise the event.
The Serbian Athletics Federation demonstrated their passion and desire and will use these championships to promote athletics as the most popular sport in Serbia.
The venue for the event will be the Kombank Arena, a universal hall of sports which was used for several international events in the recent past.
In addition the success of athletes such as Emir Bekric, Ivana Spanovic and Amela Terzic added to the hosting of the championships will continue to strategically influence the development of Serbian athletics.
Belgrade has experience in organising athletics events, most recently with the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December 2013, which were a great success.
The cities of Rieti and Tbilisi then presented their applications for the 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships and it was decided that the Georgian capital would host the event.
The Georgian delegation impressed the council with a wonderful presentation, and athletes and fans will discover a vibrant city with state of the art facilities for all those taking part.
Preparations are already underway as the city will host the European Athletics Team Championships 3rd League 2014 and then the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2015 for which the new “Athletics Stadium of Tbilisi” is being built.
Georgia believes it is important for their country to host the 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships as a step towards integration into Europe through sport.
This weekend’s summit in Frankfurt is the European Athletics Council’s 139th official meeting.
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