Ahmedabad to Host World Weightlifting Championships in 2029

Ahmedabad will host the 2029 World Weightlifting Championships, marking the first time India has been selected to stage the senior global competition. The International Weightlifting Federation announced the decision after its Executive Board awarded hosting rights for four World Championships editions scheduled between 2028 and 2030.

The 2029 event will bring the sport’s senior world championships to India for the first time. Ahmedabad’s selection is part of a wider allocation confirmed on October 25, with Moscow chosen for the 2030 senior World Weightlifting Championships.

The announcement gives Ahmedabad a place in the International Weightlifting Federation’s championship calendar and establishes India as one of three countries set to host an IWF world event for the first time during this group of allocations. Kosovo and Venezuela are the other first-time host countries named by the federation.

Ahmedabad included in three-year IWF hosting plan

The IWF Executive Board’s decisions covered four editions of its World Championships across three years. While Ahmedabad was awarded the 2029 senior event, the federation also confirmed hosts for youth and junior competitions in 2028.

Prishtina, Kosovo, will organise the 2028 World Youth Championships. Caracas, Venezuela, will host the 2028 World Junior Championships. The senior championships will then be held in Ahmedabad in 2029 before Moscow stages the 2030 edition.

For India, the 2029 award is significant because it represents the country’s first opportunity to organise the senior World Weightlifting Championships. The event is one of the federation’s major global competitions and will place Ahmedabad on the international weightlifting calendar for that year.

The allocation also reflects the spread of host locations selected by the IWF for the period. Kosovo, Venezuela and India were all identified by the federation as countries that will organise an IWF world event for the first time, while Moscow will host the senior championships in 2030.

The IWF said the host cities were confirmed following its bidding process. The Executive Board’s vote completed the allocation of the four championship editions, giving each selected host country a defined event and year.

IWF highlights first-time world event hosts

IWF General Secretary José Quiñones welcomed the outcome and said the bids received by the federation were of a high standard. He also pointed to the importance of the number of new host countries included in the decisions.

“All the bids we received were excellent and we are sure that the Championships in your respective countries will be a huge success,” Quiñones said. “It is also worth noting that three of these four countries will be organising an IWF world event for the first time – Kosovo, Venezuela and India.”

Quiñones said the outcome demonstrated that weightlifting is growing worldwide and that staging IWF competitions is highly desirable for nations across the globe. His comments placed Ahmedabad’s 2029 award within the federation’s broader effort to take its events to a wider range of host countries.

With the hosting rights now awarded, Ahmedabad is set to welcome the senior World Weightlifting Championships in 2029. The event will be the first of its kind in India and forms a central part of the IWF’s confirmed championship schedule running from the 2028 youth and junior events through to the 2030 senior edition in Moscow.