Hosting World Para Athletics Championships successfully gives India pride of place globally, say top stars, legends
New Delhi : Curtains came down on the IndianOil New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships on Sunday, which witnessed more than 2200 participants from 100-plus nations competing for 186 medal events, with the first-time hosts pocketing a record 22 medals, including 6 Gold, 9 Silver and 7 Bronze, their best-ever performance till date.
By hosting the World Para Athletics Championships 2025, India have entered a space usually reserved for elite and established organisers, feel celebrities in the sports world. The iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has been witness to the 2010 Commonwealth Games that included para athletics as a medal event but this WPAC has pitchforked India’s capability to seamlessly host an international event to a “different level,” feel several international para athletes, World Champions and Indian sports icons.
At previous world championships, India had clinched nine medals at the Dubai 2019 edition, 10 medals at Paris 2023 and 17 medals at 2024 Kobe edition. In the Paralympics too, India’s medal tally witnessed a surge from two medals at 2004 Athens to four medals in 2016 Rio de Janeiro, 19 medals in 2020 Tokyo and 29 medals, their best performance till date, at 2024 Paris Paralympics.
The telling rise in the performance of Indian para athletes is clearly a reflection of the government’s support towards them. In WPAC 2025, 15 athletes under the government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme and one from the Khelo India programme finished among the medals. 23 TOPS group athletes and 22 Khelo India athletes competed at WPAC 2025.
The iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has been witness to the 2010 Commonwealth Games that included para athletics as a medal event but this WPAC has pitchforked India’s capability to seamlessly host an international event to a “different level,” feel several international para athletes who participated in New Delhi. India is the fourth Asian nation after Qatar, UAE and Japan to host the world para athletics championships.
