The announcement follows the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games which saw a host of countries win historic first medals, make their maiden appearances or return to the medal table after long absences.

South Korea last hosted a World Championships in 2019 and have since grown their wheelchair fencing team significantly, as well as hosting a World Cup and youth World Championships in 2023.

Iksan 2025 will be hosted by the Korea Wheelchair Fencing Association at the Iksan Stadium. The venue is the headquarters of the city’s Para Sport Committee and is also used as a national training venue for able-bodied fencers.

The city itself is known nationally as the ‘heart of fencing’ in South Korea.

Pal Szekeres, Chair of the Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee, said: “It is our pleasure to make the announcement about the host city of the 2025 World Championships after such a successful Paralympic Games.

“Countries such as Türkiye, Spain and Germany either won their first medals in wheelchair fencing or returned after some time away at Paris 2024. We also had debuts from countries like Venezuela and a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team. And indeed South Korea reached their own milestone by returning to the medals table for the first time since the 1990s, when Kyo Hyeong Kwon won their first women’s medal at the Grand Palais.

“We are excited to build on this growth and momentum over the next four years in the build-up to LA 2028, and Iksan 2025 will be a key part of that. We are looking forward to seeing what the Korea Wheelchair Fencing Association can deliver, and how their plans unfold. We are expecting it to be a great competition”

The Iksan 2025 Wheelchair Fencing World Championships are expected to feature 250 athletes from 30 countries competing in men’s and women’s team and individual sabre, foil and epee across categories A, B and C.

At Paris 2024 fencers reached a series of major milestones for their countries. These included a first medal in wheelchair fencing for Türkiye courtesy of Hakan Akkaya and podiums for Spain’s Judith Rodriguez and Germany’s Maurice Schmidt, their country’s first medals since Sydney 2000. Other highlights include Thailand’s Saysunee Jana who became the first women to grab individual gold in all three weapons, and the Paralympic wheelchair fencing debut of Venezuela. The USA, in the build-up to LA 2028, sent a team of six fencers, building massively on the presence of Ellen Geddes at Tokyo 2020.

The full 2025 calendar for wheelchair fencing, featuring a number of World Cups, will be announced shortly.