India Proposes Ahmedabad As Host City For 2031 World Athletics, 2028 U20 Championships

Indian officials on Wednesday revealed that Ahmedabad, the host city for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, has also been proposed as the venue for the 2028 World U20 Championships and the 2031 World Senior Athletics Championships, as the Gujarat city lines up major international events in its bid to host the 2036 Olympics.

Ahmedabad was formally awarded hosting rights of the 2030 CWG by the general assembly of the Commonwealth Sport, paving the way for the multi-sport event's return to India after two decades.

"We are creating infrastructure, with aspiration that Ahmedabad becomes the sports capital of India. We are going to provide this infrastructure for training, for creating world-class athletes, for hosting Asian, continental and World Championships," said Ashwani Kumar, Principal Secretary Sports in the Gujarat government during a press conference.

"Our aspiration is to host U20 World Athletics Championships in 2028, 2031 World Senior Athletics Championships, 2033 World Aquatics. In 2029, we are going to host World Police and Fire Games.

"So the list is very long. We have a pipeline of events and they will keep on coming and they are going to drive the local economy."

India, through Athletics Federation of India, had submitted expression of interest to host the 2028 World U20 Athletics Championships when the International Federation chief Sebastian Coe visited the country towards the end of 2024. World Athletics will announce the hosts of the 2028 and 2030 editions of Junior World Championships next month.

World Athletics vice president and former Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla had earlier this year said that the country would mount a "strategic" bid for the 2029 and 2031 World Championships when the process begins later this year, hoping to get the hosting rights of one of the two editions of the showpiece.

World Athletics will announce the hosts for the 2029 and 2031 editions in September 2026.

Talking about past events that Ahmedabad has hosted, he said, "You have already seen that in Veer Savarkar Multisports Complex in Ahmedabad, we have hosted Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships. We have also hosted Asian Aquatics Championships. We are going to host Asian weightlifting next year."

"All these are aligned with our national goals, our aspirations. As far as the bid for 2036 Olympic is concerned, I am seeing this announcement today of Ahmedabad being selected as host city for Commonwealth 2030 in a very positive spirit.

"Certainly it will help us in demonstrating to the world at large that we are capable of hosting a multi-sport event in the shortest possible time and in the best possible way."