Spurred by India's improving performances in global athletics and Neeraj Chopra's grand success in Budapest, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is planning to bid for the 2027 World Championships. The discussions with the government are still at a nascent stage but top officials in AFI expressed confidence about the plan to bid going through.
"We are planning to bid for the championships. Everything is still at a very early stage but we are confident that we will get clearance from all stakeholders," a senior AFI official said.
"Hosting an event of the scale of World Championships is a very expensive affair, but as the fifth largest economy of the world, we should host it. All major powers of the world have hosted it at least once," the official said.
The Budapest edition concluded on Sunday night with javelin ace Chopra allowing India to share global athletics headlines by winning the country's first gold medal.
The last Asian country to host the event was Doha in 2019. The next edition in 2025 will be held in Tokyo.
Chopra said the event coming to India will work wonders for its athletics. "It will be great. A lot of Indians are aware about javelin, but I would urge them to watch other athletics events too," the Olympic and world champion said ahead of Thursday's Zurich Diamond League event.
{{/usCountry}}Chopra said the event coming to India will work wonders for its athletics. "It will be great. A lot of Indians are aware about javelin, but I would urge them to watch other athletics events too," the Olympic and world champion said ahead of Thursday's Zurich Diamond League event.
{{/usCountry}}So far, only Istanbul and Beijing have publicly expressed interest to host the 2027 edition though five cities are understood to have thrown their hat in the ring. The deadline for submitting the bid application is October 2. The 'final' deadline for submission of bids is January 19, 2024.