On May 9, at the Annual General Meeting of the International World Games Association (IWGA) taking place in Gold Coast, Australia, Chengdu was announced to be the host city for The World Games (TWG) 2025. It will be the first time for a city in the Chinese mainland to hold this event.

Mr. Luo Qiang, Mayor of Chengdu, signed the Organiser Agreement for the 12th edition of the multi-sports event with IWGA President Mr. Jose Perurena, who was on behalf of the IWGA. Mr. Yu Zaiqing, the Vice President of IOC and the Chinese Olympic Committee, signed the agreement as witness.

The World Games 2025 will be another grand sports event to take place in the city, following the 2019 World Police and Fire Games in August, 2021 Summer Universiade and 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

The World Games, first held in 1981 in California, the US, is a multi-sports event by the IWGA under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. It is staged quadrennially, in the year following the Summer Olympic Games. And most of the sports and disciplines it includes are those that not contested in the Olympic Games.

On March 13, an inspection team from the IWGA, led by IWGA Vice President Mr. Max Bishop and CEO Mr. Joachim Gossow, arrived in Chengdu and started their two-day inspection and evaluation of Chengdu, one of the TWG 2025 candidature cities. Their first impression of the city is that it is capable of hosting the multi-sports event.

"Chengdu's environmental protection concept fits in with IWGA's philosophy. The bidding team prepared well, and its high-quality bidding document is really impressive. We believe that Chengdu can make the 2025 TWG a great success. I feel that Chengdu is a modern, well-designed city with convenient transportation. It is one of the most livable cities in the world. I hope I can come here again as a traveler and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the city," said Mr. Bishop.

Mr. Gossow stated that after the inspection, he strongly believed that Chengdu has basically satisfied the requirements for the event. "It is an international metropolis, and hosting The World Games will make it more culturally diversified. Chengdu's infrastructure, sports facilities and venues, as well as public services are already very good, and the next thing it should do is to raise the local citizens' awareness of the event," he said.