new delhi: Some of the globe's best para athletes, including blade runners, prosthetic jumpers and wheelchair-bound competitors, will showcase their awe-inspiring grit and resilience on the sporting field when the biggest ever World Para Athletics Championships begins
here on Saturday.
India, a rising power in para sports, including para athletics, has rolled out top-class facilities for the 12th edition of the showpiece, which will run till October 5 at the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. With 2200 athletes and officials from 104 countries participating in the nine-day showpiece, the New Delhi edition is the biggest in history, with India joining Qatar (2015), the UAE (2019) and Japan (2024) as the fourth nation to host the event.
The para athletes, numbering over 1500, will compete across 186 medal events, 15 more than the 2024 edition in Kobe, Japan.The championships promise top-class performances as over 100 medallists who altogether won 308 medals in Paris Paralympics, including 112 gold, 96 silver, and 100 bronze, are set to test their mettle on the grandest para athletics stage. There will be 101 events for men, 84 for women, and one mixed in the championship. World Para president Paul Fitzgerald said new world records will be made and new champions will be crowned, and praised India for providing top-class facilities for the event.
"This edition will be the largest single event para championships in history and credit to India for hosting this," he said. "Spectators inside the stadium and a global audience around the world will experience the brilliance of the athletes competing in newly renovated facilities designed to maximise their skill, speed and strength."
The centre-piece of the event is the Mondo track laid at the competition venue as well as the warm-up area, considered to be the first instance of the high performance surface at both the arenas. A number of world's best will vie for the top honours and among them will be 'Blade Jumper' Markus Rehm of Germany, wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland and fastest para sprinter Petrucio
Ferreira of Brazil.