Beijing, March 14 (IANS) The 2020 Tokyo Olympic women’s shot put champion Gong Lijiao is among 35 athletes selected to represent China at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing next week.
At 36, five-time Olympian Gong is the eldest on the roster, which was released by the Chinese Athletics Association on Friday and consists of 18 men and 17 women.
Boasting a personal best of 20.58 metres, Gong opened the 2025 season with a 19.04m victory at an indoor national trial last month. The seasoned shot putter has earned two bronze medals at the World Indoor Championships in 2014 and 2018 respectively.
China’s squad also includes Zhu Yaming, men’s triple jump runner-up at Tokyo 2020, as well as rising pole vaulter Li Chenyang, who raised the men’s national record to 5.85m last month.
The 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships will take place from March 21 to 23, featuring some 700 athletes from more than 150 countries and regions.
Inaugurated in 1985, Nanjing will host the 21st edition of the event which was last held in Glasgow in 2024. The United States is the most successful country in the event having topped the medals table in 12 editions.
Competitions will be held in 26 disciplines — 13 each for men and women — and 78 medals will be awarded across the three action-packed days of competition.
Individual athletes and teams will win prize money at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25. The first-place finisher in both individual and team competitions will receive USD 40,000 while the second-placed participant pocketing USD 20,000 and the third-placed getting USD 10,000. Those finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth will get USD 8,000, 6,000, and 4,000 respectively.
–IANS
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