Athlete criticises 'strange' world championships

Dan Pembroke described winning his third world title as an "anti-climax"

A British para-athlete has hit out at organisers of the world championships in India, saying small crowds had resulted in a "strange atmosphere".

Hereford's Dan Pembroke won his third consecutive javelin World Para Athletics Championship title in New Delhi on Saturday but accused organisers of not spending enough on marketing.

"It's a bit of an anti-climax when you come to the world championships and nobody knows it's going on," he said.

The BBC has contacted World Para Athletics for comment.

Other athletes competing at the championships have also criticised the low crowd numbers, with nine-time Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft questioning the choice of host venue, with the 60,000-seat Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium largely empty, despite free entry.

Pembroke added: "Everything is running really well. All the logistics, you know, getting to the stadium, the competition and how it's being run is all really, really good, I couldn't really fault it at all.

"But the one thing that is noticeable is the lack of crowd here. I think potentially all the money was spent on making it run well and not notifying the local population."

The three-time world champion said he had the support of 65,000 people in Paris during the Paralympic Games in 2024 but that on Saturday he had a "maximum of 500 people" watch on.

"It's very, very different. It's just a shame there isn't the crowds we had in Paris because that definitely did spur me on," he said.

"It seems as though able-bodied championships were shown on UK television and people knew about it but now the Para World Championships come around and nobody knows it's going on.

"You can't say people don't want to watch it, look at Paris and the numbers of people that did view the Paralympic Games."