ESPN to air IAAF World Indoor Athletics

[khurramdar]

ESPN to air IAAF World Indoor Athletics

Thursday, March 4 2010, 12:36 GMT

By Andrew Laughlin,

ESPN has agreed a deal for UK broadcast rights to the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Persian Gulf, with coverage starting next week.

All action from the athletics competition at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar will be shown live and exclusive on ESPN and ESPN HD from March 12 to 14.

Close to 1,300 athletes representing 158 countries will compete at the tournament in a range of track and field events.

British competitors include World Pentathlon Champion Jessica Ennis, returning triple jump gold medallist Phillips Idowu and 400m metre runner Christine Ohuruogu, who won an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Highlights from the openings day's heats and qualifiers will be screened on ESPN at 11.30pm on March 12, before live action gets under way for the rest of the weekend.

Coverage will run from 6am to 9am and 11.45am to 3.50pm on March 13, followed by all action from the finals on March 14 from 12.45pm to 4pm, with a highlights show later at 11.45pm.

"As Athletics fans and British sports fans begin to look towards the 2012 Olympics in London, we hope they share our excitement in the addition of live coverage of the World Indoor Championships," said ESPN EMEA vice president Jeroen Oerlemans.

"It is great sporting competition and is in line with our approach to provide a diverse line-up of top sports events."

Yesterday, ESPN announced a separate deal for UK broadcast rights to the first ever European Winter X Games, with coverage starting on March 10.