The 12 th World Para Athletics Championship 2025 took off in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JLN) , New Delhi and this is the first time that India hosted such a grand global event. The championship lasts till the 5th of October, 2025 and will be hosting over 1,000 para- athletes representing over 100 nations , with an Indian team of more than 70 athletes .
The championship is characterized by 186 medal events ; 101 of men, 84 of women and one mixed event in a diverse variety of track and field competitions. Notably, it is also a qualifying event in 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games , which means that it becomes even more significant in the world context.
Star Athletes and Indian Contingent.
Participation of India has attracted attention whereby some of the best para-athletes are targeting to be on the podium. Deepthi Jeevanji made it to the Women 400m T20 final round quickly with her season best of 58.35sec. Sumit Antil is the current Paralymptic champion javelinist who is seeking to win his third world championship.
Indian flag bearers are Dharambir Nain , who has won gold in club throw at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris and Preeti Pal , a Paralympics swimming sprinting athlete who has two bronze medals. Praveen Kumar and Navdeep are also other medal aspirants in high jump and javelin respectively.
International Highlights
It has also drawn some of the best para-athletes in the world. Among them are Athanasios Ghavelas of Greece (in the sprints) , Ezra Frech of the USA (in high jump and sprints), James Turner of Australia (middle distance races), Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland (wheelchair racing), Fleur Jong of the Netherlands (sprints and long jump), and Magdalena Andruszkiewicz of Poland (throws).
About the Championship
The World Para Athletics Championships is organised by the International Paralympathetic Committee (IPC), and since the debut event in Berlin, Germany, in 1994 , the championship has been conducted every two years. The 11th edition was held in Paris in 2023 and the hosting of the 12th edition by India in 2025 is seen as a move towards increasing the popularity of para-sports in the country.
Historically, such major countries as the USA, China, Brazil, Great Britain and Ukraine control the numbers of medals. As India takes the lead as the host, there is a lot of anticipations of both the competitive performances as well as the growth of para-sport culture in India.
Month: Current Affairs - October 03, 2025
Category: current affairs daily