India is set to host the 2028 World Athletics Indoor Championships, with Bhubaneswar emerging as the chosen venue after a World Athletics Council meeting in Torun, Poland. The event will be staged at the Kalinga Indoor Stadium — a facility that has quietly turned the Odisha capital into one of Indian athletics’ most reliable hosts.
This isn’t a one-off. Bhubaneswar has built a reputation over the past decade, from the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships to regular stops on the World Athletics Continental Tour. Officials who inspected the venue earlier this year were convinced it could handle a global indoor meet.
For Indian athletics, the timing matters. The sport is riding a wave led by athletes like Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable, alongside emerging distance runners pushing new limits.