News Brief
2036 Olympics In Sight: India To Bid For Multiple Athletics World Events In Strategic Push, Says Report
Olympics’ official flag (Representative Image) (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
India reportedly plans to place a "strategic" bid for both the 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships, aiming to secure the hosting rights for at least one of the editions, according to national federation official Adille Sumariwalla, news agency PTI reported.
"We are going to do strategic bidding for 2029 and 2031 (Championships). Both editions will be awarded together and whichever edition we get is fine," Sumariwalla, a vice-president of the World Athletics and former president of Athletics Federation of India (AFI), was quoted as saying by PTI.
World Athletics will announce the host cities for both editions in September 2026. Member federations have until 1 October 2025, to express interest, with initial bid applications due by 1 April 2026. Final bids must be submitted by 5 August 2026.
The AFI is pursuing several major international events as part of India’s broader ambition to host the 2036 Olympics.
While India initially aimed for the 2029 edition, the strategic addition of a 2031 bid stems from Asia already hosting the 2025 and 2027 events, possibly lowering India’s chances for 2029.
Tokyo and Beijing are set to host the 2025 and 2027 editions respectively, both scheduled in the September-October window.
India's earliest hosting opportunity could come with the 2028 Junior World Championships, for which the AFI submitted its interest during WA President Sebastian Coe’s visit in late 2024.
World Athletics will declare the 2028 and 2030 Junior World Championship hosts in December 2025.
The deadline for initial submission of bid application is September 22, 2025.
Final bids for the junior championships must be submitted by 7 November 2025.
