New Delhi: India’s campaign at the World Athletics Championships 2025 ended on a disappointing note as they returned to the country empty handed without securing even a single medal. Emerging javelin thrower Sachin Yadav’s performance proved to be the only silver lining in India’s campaign at Worlds as reining champions Neeraj Chopra had to settle for a eighth-place finish.

India had sent a 19-member athletics contingent for the 20th edition of the Championships, also known as Tokyo25. The list featured a total of 14 men and five women, who competed in 15 different events – 11 for men and four for women. The Indian team’s campaign was also headlined by long jump ace Murali Sreeshankar along with women’s javelin national record-holder Annu Rani and Animesh Kujur.

Kujur became the first Indian male sprinter to compete at the Worlds creating a record in Indian athletics. Meanwhile, triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, 3000m steeplechase runner Parul Chaudhary and Abdulla Aboobacker were among the other key names in the squad. Gulveer Singh and Pooja doubled up in two events each but crashed out in the qualification stages.

Priyanka Goswami began India’s campaign in the 35km race walk finishing 24th in the women’s event while Sandeep Kumar came in 23rd place in the men’s event. Ram Baboo, however, faced disqualification on the first day of Worlds.

Jumper Sarvesh Kushare created history by becoming the first Indian high jumper to qualify for the final of a World Athletics Championships. He achieved sixth spot in the final with a personal best of 2.28m. Going into the Tokyo25, Indian athletes won three medals at the world championships. Among the medals achieved, Anju Bobby George’s long jump bronze at Paris 2003, Neeraj Chopra’s javelin silver at Oregon 2022 and his historic gold at Budapest 2023. had grabbed headlines.