The World Games 2022: Abhishek Verma, Pankaj Advani to lead Indian contingent - watch live streaming
The quadrennial event will see 15 Indians competing across seven sports. Watch live!
India’s top-ranked compound archer Abhishek Verma and billiards player Pankaj Advani will lead the 15-member Indian contingent at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, USA, starting from Thursday.
The World Games is a global multi-sport quadrennial event comprising sports that are not contested at the Olympic Games. First held in 1981, The World Games have been held a year after every Summer Olympics since then.
In its 11th edition now, the World Games 2022 will have new additions like kickboxing, drone racing (air sports), canoe marathon (canoe), breaking (dance sport), parkour (gymnastics), men’s lacrosse, and mixed team tug of war this year. Softball, which made an appearance in 1985, will also return.
India, meanwhile, will take part in compound archery, billiards sports, dance sport, powerlifting, roller sports, sumo and wushu.
Overall, the World Games will see more than 3,500 athletes compete in 223 medal events across 34 sports.
Asian Games gold medallist Abhishek Verma, currently ranked fifth in the compound archery world rankings, will be India’s top medal prospect at the global event along with women's world No. 3 Jyothi Surekha Vennam.
Muskan Kirar and Avneet Kaur will be competing in women’s compound archery.
Pankaj Advani, India’s best billiards player and 24-time world champion, will be seen in action in the 15-red snooker competition.
The World Games are governed by the International World Games Association and are backed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Qualifications for The World Games are conducted by the international sports federations and only the top athletes or teams make the cut.
India, who have competed in all the previous 10 editions, have won four medals so far in the competition’s history.
Badminton legend Prakash Padukone clinched a bronze in 1981. Powerlifters Sumita Laha (women’s heavyweight) and Rekha Mal (women’s lightweight) won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 1989 edition.
India’s biggest success, however, came in 2013 when Aditya Mehta won the snooker singles title, which remains India’s only gold in the competition.
The World Games 2022 opening ceremony will be held at the new Protective Life Stadium in Birmingham on Thursday. The sporting events, meanwhile, will run from July 8 to 17.
Where to watch The World Games 2022 live in India?
Live streaming of The World Games 2022 will be available on Olympics.com. There is no live telecast of the event on any TV channels in India.
The World Games 2022: Indian contingent
Archery
Abhishek Verma - compound men
Aman Saini - compound men
Jyothi Surekha Vennam - compound women
Avneet Kaur - compound women
Muskan Kirar - compound women
Billiards sports
Chitra Magimairaj - pool 9-ball women
Pankaj Advani - snooker 15-reds men
Dance sport
Saniksha Bhosale and Swapnil Londhe - rock 'n' roll couple
Powerlifting
Utekar Sahil Mahesh - lightweight men
Roller sports
Dhanush Babu - men’s speed skating road & track
Aarathy Kasturiraj - women’s speed skating road & track
Varsha Sriramakrishna Puranik - women’s speed skating road & track
Sumo
Samruddhi Bhosale - lightweight women
Wushu
Sanma Brahma - taolu men