World Athletics delegates inspect Kalinga Stadium for 2028 World Indoors bid

Kolkata: A delegation from World Athletics (WA) visited the indoor athletics track at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and met Odisha sports minister Suryabanshi Suraj and sports secretary Sachin Jadhav in the backdrop of India’s bid for 2028 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
The World Athletics delegation included Marton Gyulai, competitions and events director, and Mark Hurst, head of bidding. Besides them, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials led by Adille Sumariwalla were also present.
“There are hundreds of parameters for them to evaluate. Everything from competition to training, warm-up, airports, transport, hotels, rooms, broadcast, seating and technical officials. So, it’s been a busy day, but a very fruitful day and I’m sure that they will go back satisfied,” said Sumariwalla, a former AFI president.
All this while, the indoor facility has been used by the athletes for training purposes. However, it will hold its first competitive event, the inaugural National Indoor Championships, on Mar 24-25 and that will certainly help the cause.
“I’m sure that we will be giving a very good impression to World Athletics. There are lots of other bidders, so it should be a very strong bid to win the 2028 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar,” Sumariwalla further said in a video posted by Odisha Sports on ‘X’, formerly ‘twitter’.
Besides India, New Zealand has also shown interest in holding the tournament and according to reports it also got strong government support.
“Odisha has the necessary and available facilities to host all levels of sporting events. We are backed and encouraged by strong fan support. I hope we can collaborate with World Athletics and AFI and add this prestigious milestone to our sporting journey,” expressed Odisha sports minister Suraj.
India meanwhile has also bid to host 2028 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar. And as far as hosting global sporting events are concerned, the city has already made a name for itself. It hosted its first world athletics meet when the Continental Tour Bronze level meet took place last year and are now preparing to hold the Continental Tour Silver level meet in Aug this year.