With just a little more than two years to go to The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama, we already know the first athletes who will compete there in July 2021! The first athletes to qualify were the winners of four weight categories in Muaythai at the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia at the beginning of May. In the 63.5 kg category Muaythai superstar and The World Games 2017 champion Igor Liubchenko (UKR) qualified for the 2021 edition. He is the first Muaythai athlete in the history to qualify for two consecutive Games! On May 2, two athletes from Boules Sport also qualified from the World Championship double in Almeria, Spain: Thai Petanque athletes Phantipha Wongchuvej and Nantawan Fueangsanit. The list of all qualifiers is at the end of this article.
Actually, the qualifications started already in 2017: in Lacrosse, the World Championships are held every four years, and therefore the best teams from the Women’s World Championships in 2017 and the Men’s World Championships 2018 have qualified for The World Games 2021. It will not be until 2021, however, that we know which players will be present at the multi-sports event in Birmingham.
A further two sports have started their journey towards Birmingham by beginning their qualification events: Ju-jitsu’s qualification series began in April at the Paris Open Grand Slam 2019 and at the US Open 2019, and DanceSport’s began at the recent 2019 WDSF European Championship Standard in Salaspils, Latvia, where Evaldas Sodeika and Ieva Zukauskaite (LTU) took the victory.
The World Games 2021 will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.
Athletes already qualified for The World Games 2021
Muaythai
Women
57 kg Anaelle Angerville (FRA), Pia Salgado (AUS)
63.5 kg Zoe Putorak (AUS)
Men
57 kg Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ)
63.5 kg Igor Liubchenko (UKR)
Boules Sport
Petanque
Phantipha Wongchuvej (THA)
Nantawan Fueangsanit (THA)
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.
