Cheruiyot and Jelimo headline Doha Diamond League

Kenyan's Vivian Cheruiyot and Pamela Jelimo will be among the headline acts when the 2012 Samsung Diamond League season of 14 meetings blasts off on Friday 11 May in Doha, Qatar.

The two together with the Ethiopian duo of  Kenenisa Bekele and Genzebe Dibaba were announced at a press conference Monday in Doha. Former 800m Worlc champion Alfred Kirwa Yego is also among the elite runners lined up for the Diamond League meetings opener.

Cheruiyot is the reigning World 5000m and 10,000m champion following a stellar 2011 season in which she also become World Cross Country champion.

Jelimo, the 2008 Olympic 800m champion, signalled a full comeback from injury this past indoor season which also culminated with her triumph in Istanbul.

Bekele, the World record holder at both 5000 and 10,000m, has amassed 16 World titles on the track and in Cross Country and is the reigning Olympic champion at both distances.

Dibaba , after junior career World championship victories on the track and cross country, took her first senior World title over 1500m at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul last month to cap a superb indoor season.

Also confirmed were Sudan’s two-time World Indoor 800m champion Abubaker Kaki who was a silver medallist last month in Doha, Moroccan record holder Amine Laalou.

In the women’s 800m, 22-year-old Indian record holder (1:59.17) and Daegu semi-finalist Luca Tintu will take on Jelimo.

IAAF Samsung Diamond League - 2012 Calendar

Doha, QAT - 11 May

Shanghai, CHN - 19 May

Rome, ITA - 31 May

Eugene, USA - 2 June

Oslo, NOR - 7 June

New York, USA - 9 June

Paris, FRA - 6 July

London, GBR - 13 / 14

July Monaco, MON - 20 July

Stockholm, SWE - 17 August

Lausanne, SUI - 23 August

Birmingham, GBR - 26 August

Zurich, SUI - 30 August

Brussels, BEL - 7 September.

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