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World 5,000m silver medalist Ndiku seeks Diamond League consolation

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

His mission to end Britain's Mo Farah's reign in the 5,000m race was a failure at the Beijing World Championships, but Kenya's Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku is in Brussels to seek another status -- to win the Diamond Race on Friday.

Ndiku, who settled for silver in Beijing, will be the athlete to beat in the final leg of the 14-tier IAAF Diamond League and so will be world 3,000m steeplechase champion Hyvin Kiyeng and Virginia Nyambura.

The trio is among a galaxy of Kenyan stars with a chance to win the Diamond Trophy, which comes with 40,000 U.S. dollars to boot as the curtains folds on the premier IAAF track and field competition.

"I want to win and the Diamond Trophy to compensate on what I missed in Beijing. It is a lesser trophy compared to the gold but to beat Mo Farah, you need to beat him tactically," Ndiku said on Thursday in a telephone interview.

But it will not be Ndiku alone. Kiyeng's emergence as surprise winner in Beijing has thrust her in the limelight at the right time and she has a chance to prove her win in the Chinese capital was no fluke.

Compatriot Nyambura has a big lead with 15 points and needs to finish in the top three positions to secure her inaugural Diamond Trophy in the water and hurdles event.

Second placed Kiyeng is tied on nine points with Ethiopia's Hiwot Ayalew, while World silver medalist Habiba Ghiribi of Tunisia is out of the race in fourth place with four points. Winner in Brussels will get eight points.

In the throws, the meeting will serve as a confirmatory test for newly crowned world javelin champion Julius Yego who will renew his rivalry with Olympic champion Kershorn Walcott, former world champion Vitezslav Vesely and bronze medalist Tero Pitkamaki.

World 400m hurdles champion Nicholas Bett will seek to re-affirm that his victory in Beijing was no fluke as he teams up with Boniface Mucheru.

World 1,500m silver medalist Elijah Manangoi, three-time world champion Asbel Kiprop, world junior champion Alfred Kipketer and Robert Biwott will challenge Olympic silver medalist Nijel Amos (Botswana) and former world champion Aman Mohammed of Ethiopia in 800m.

Former world 5,000m silver medalist Mercy Cherono and world 1,500m silver medalist Faith Chepng'etich will race in the 12-lap race. David Rudisha, the winner in Beijing, will skip the meeting. Endit