India To Host World Indoor Athletics Championships 2028 In Bhubaneswar

It is official. India has been awarded first-time hosting rights for the World Indoor Athletics Championships 2028. World Athletics on Thursday (March 19, 2026) confirmed Bhubaneswar as the host city for the prestigious event.

The decision was taken at the World Athletics Council meeting in Torun, Poland on the eve of the start of World Indoor Athletics Championships 2026. "India has been awarded the World Indoor Athletics Championships for the year 2028," World Athletics vice-president Adille Sumariwalla was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had revealed its bid for the 2028 World Indoor Championships earlier in 2026. A two-member team from World Athletics had visited the indoor facility at the Kalinga Stadium Complex in Bhubaneswar in January.

Along with Sumariwalla, who is also a World Athletics Council member and former AFI president, officials of the Odisha government travelled to the Polish city. AFI president Bahadur Singh Sagoo said the development was an indication of the growing stature of Indian athletics in the international stage.

"The World Athletics 2028 Indoor Athletics Championships allotted to India mark the growing stature of Indian athletics. Indian track and field has been in sharp focus since ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won back-to-back Olympic and World medals," he said.

New Zealand had also earlier expressed interest to host the 2028 edition of the biennial track and field competition. "Since India was in the fray, we were not allowed inside when the decision to choose the host city was taken. Later World Athletics announced that India has been awarded the Championships," technical committee chairman and former AFI secretary Ravinder Chaudhry was quoted as saying in the report.

India will become only the fourth Asian country to host the World Indoor Athletics Championships after Japan (1999), Qatar (2010) and China (2025). The Bhubaneswar edition will be the 22nd iteration of the global meet.

Next In India's Bidding List

India has also made a bid to host the 2028 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium complex in Bhubaneswar, which was inaugurated in 2024. A two-member delegation of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) had reportedly made an inspection visit in February 2026.

The indoor facility at the Kalinga Stadium will also host the inaugural edition of the National Indoor Athletics Championships from March 24 to 25. The indoor athletics centre has a 200m synthetic track, an 80m plus 20m running track, and designated areas for long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot put.

India has made bids for a number of major global athletics events, in line with the country's desire to host the 2036 Olympic Games. The country is bidding for the 2028 World U20 Athletics Championships as well as the 2031 World (Senior) Athletics Championships, both in Ahmedabad. The Gujarat capital will host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

(With PTI inputs)