Okagbare, Kiplagat among top athletes set to compete in IAAF Diamond League

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Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor will join other leading global athletes set to compete at the 9th edition of the Meeting International Mohammed VI, the third leg of the 2016 IAAF Diamond League series.

The Diamond League is scheduled for May 22 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco.

The information was contained in a statement issued by Athletics Africa on Thursday.

It said: “Among the athletes to compete are 20 athletes who have won medals at the Olympics, which include six gold medals, 91 silver and five bronze medals.

“Others are 39 athletes who won medals at the world championships, 18 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze.”

It added that the Local Organising Committee in Rabat had confirmed that it received entries on Monday.

The statement listed some of the entries to include Lashawn Merritt of USA (400m), a two-time world 400m and five-time world 4x400m champion and Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco (3000m), a 2012 Olympics bronze medalist.

Others include Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat, a 1500m silver medalist from Daegu 2011 World Championships, Italian’s Gianmarco Tamberi (High Jump) and world indoor champion in Portland 2016.

The rest are Australian Fabrice Lapierre (Long Jump), world indoor champion in Doha 2010, Poland’s Piotr Malachowski, a 2008 Olympics Silver medallist in Discus, and current world long jump leader Ruswahl Samaai of South Africa.

According to the statement, Pan-American Games silver medalist, Marquise Goodwin, has also sent his entry for the event.

It also said that women were not left out as Jamaican Elaine Thompson (100m) world 4x100m champion in Beijing 2015 and Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (5000m), a world champion in Beijing 2015, would feature at the event.

It listed other women billed to participate in the league to include Cuban Yarisley Silva, a Pole Vault world champion in Beijing 2015, and Colombian Catherine Ibarguen, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist in triple jump) among others.

NAN.

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