The city of Daegu is bidding for hosting the 2009 World Athletics Championships by dispatching a high-ranking sports official to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) headquartered in Monaco. 


Park Sang-ha, the former executive committee president of the 2003 Daegu Summer Universiade Organizing Committee, met IAAF officials, including general secretary Istvan Gyulai, Tuesday to discuss the city's hosting of the biennial championships. 


After the Universiade last year, the Daegu city government expressed its will to host a number of international sporting events to make use of the sports infrastructure. 


The Korea Athletics Federation (KAF) said it has already filed Daegu's intention to make a bid for the 2009 event with the IAAF on Jan. 26. A KAF official explained that Daegu should submit its candidature file by Sept. 1. The IAAF will make a decision on the host city in November after carrying out an evaluation process in October. 


Helsinki, Finland, and Osaka, Japan, will host the 2005 and 2007 editions of the championships