Adille Sumariwalla said India has submitted bids to host the World Athletics Championships in 2029 or 2031, as well as the 2028 World Athletics U20 Championships, with Ahmedabad proposed as the venue for both events. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV

India has made a bid to host the World Athletics Championships in either 2029 or 2031, with Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla saying a decision on the host city will be announced in September.

India has also submitted a bid to host the 2028 World Athletics U20 Championships in Ahmedabad.

“We made bids to host both these championships in Ahmedabad. A team from World Athletics was there in Ahmedabad, along with the chair of the bid committee. They inspected the infrastructure, evaluated the transport, hotels, operations, weather, food, everything,” Sumariwalla said.

“It is a very tough competition. There is London, which has hosted the World Championships and Olympic Games, there is Munich, which has also hosted the Olympic Games, and there is Kenya, which has hosted two Junior World Championships. So, the fight is tremendous.

“We presented our best-case scenario to them and let’s wait and see what happens. A decision on the host city will be taken at a meeting after the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest from September 11 to 13,” he added.

Sumariwalla said the AFI is hopeful that Indian athletes will do better at the Asian Games in Japan than they did in the previous edition.

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“From what we are seeing, things are going well. We should hopefully do better than we did last time,” he said.

“While the government has said those in sixth place and eighth place can be considered for selection, we are taking those in third or fourth place in most events. Yet, so many people have qualified. It just shows the bench strength. It shows that what AFI is doing is right, that the strategy of AFI is working and we are on the right path.”

India won 29 medals in athletics, including six gold, at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. It also won eight athletics medals, including one gold, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Published on Jun 27, 2026