For the first time, India will host the IWF Weightlifting World Championships in Ahmedabad in 2029. The International Weightlifting Federation awarded the hosting rights to India during its executive board meeting in Ningbo, China on Sunday.
Big development for Indian weightlifting. (HT_PRINT)
India saw strong competition from Russia and Venezuela to win the bid.
“It’s a big day for Indian weightlifting as the IWF world championships will be coming to India for the first time and will be organised in Ahmedabad. Russia and Venezuela had strongly pitched for the 2029 championships but the IWF Executive Board has put faith in India,” said Indian Weightlifting Federation president Sahdev Yadav.
The 2029 IWF world championships will also be a qualifying event for the 2030 Commonwealth Games to be hosted in India. “It will give our weightlifters a good opportunity to win berths for the 2030 CWG,” he added.
Russia has been awarded the 2030 IWF World Championships while Venezuela will host the IWF Junior World Championships.
The IWF meeting was being held on the sidelines of IWF World Championships in Ningbo, which starts on Tuesday. It is also the first qualification tournament of LA 2028 Olympics.
A seven-member Indian team including Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu is competing in the event in 53kg weight class. Mirabai, the 2017 world champion in 48kg weight, has also won two silver medals in 2022 and 2025. She is still going strong having recently won silver medal at the Asian Games in 49kg.
However, she has moved up a weight division following a restructuring of Olympic weight classes for LA 2028. The lowest women’s category at the Olympics is now 53kg. Gyaneshwari Yadav, the 2026 CWG silver medallist, is also in fray in the same weight class.
“It has been a hectic season for us and Mirabai has just competed at the Asian Games. Since this is the first qualifying event for the LA 2028 Olympics we need to participate for ranking points. Gyaneshwari is also a good prospect. We are hoping to win at least four Olympic berths for LA Games,” said Sahdev Yadav.
