Tonight's Golden Grand Prix meeting will be the launch pad for an Asian circuit to rival the Golden League meetings in Europe, says the man in charge of the Shanghai extravaganza.
Jos Hermens, who is the director for tonight's meeting, believes it is a matter of when, and not if, Asia will host a world-class series.
'People around the world will realise just how much potential there is in Asia,' Hermens said. 'To have a successful series, a lot of things have to fall into place. Top athletes have to be willing to come to this part of the world, commercial sponsors have to be found and there has to be an Asia-wide co-ordination effort.
'I think finding the athletes will not be a problem. Even for [tonight's meeting] we have 19 top athletes who between them hold 32 world and Olympic titles from the past two years. This level of participation is amazing when you consider this the first time that China is hosting such an event. And all the athletes have told me they love it here in China ... that they'll be coming back next year.
'If that happens then everything else will fall into place. We will have to co-ordinate with other major meetings in the region in order to set up a series. Japan and Korea, for example, are both hosting international meetings in the next couple of weeks. It is important that a series be commercially viable and with the economic boom in China, this country will have an important role to play.'
China, though, must first raise awareness of athletics in a country where other sports like soccer, table tennis and badminton tend to hog the spotlight.
