Over 4,000 athletes have descended on the Chinese city of Chengdu ahead of the 12th edition of the World Games.
Described by organisers as “the second-most important global multi-sport event in the world”, the World Games have been held every year since 1981 in the year after the Summer Olympics, serving as a showcase for sports that aspire to recognition at an Olympic level.
In recent years, sports such as triathlon, trampolining and, most recently, sport climbing have all featured initially at the World Games before going on to gain wider, Olympic approval.
Lacrosse and squash, meanwhile, were both regular disciplines at recent editions of the World Games and will now feature at Los Angeles 2028 after long campaigns.
What sports will feature at the World Games?
China is hosting the Games for the first time and the event in Chengdu will see 253 gold medals awarded across 34 categories of sport.
Some of the disciplines at the 2025 games will be familiar to the casual sports fan – billiards, karate, and powerlifting, for example – but other events are more obscure.
There are, for example, medals to be won in two forms of flying disc: disc golf, which (as the name suggests) uses rules similar to golf, with players throwing a frisbee-like disc at a target; and ultimate, where mixed teams of seven players try and catch the disc in their opponent’s end zone in order to score goals.
Another eye-catching discipline is fistball, which at first glance looks like volleyball, but it takes place on a 50 metre by 20 metre grass court and the ball is allowed to bounce.
Elsewhere, aquatic sports are well represented, with medals to be won in lifesaving, finswimming, and freediving, while wakeboarding and powerboating are bound to draw the crowds.
There’ll also be tug-of-war, cheerleading, and the French game of pétanque, amongst others.
Some sports, however, have proved too ‘niche’ even for World Games aficionados – mini golf, boomerang, and even indoor speedway have each featured only once.
World Games chance ‘means everything’ to participating athletes
For many of the sports in Chengdu, the World Games represents the high point of the sporting calendar.
As Team GB flying disc competitor Rachel Turton explained to the Press Association: “It’s the pinnacle of our sport.
“Others have the Olympics, but for us it means everything to get the chance to go out and compete on such a big stage.”
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SportJustSport writers