Two coaches from Kenya and Japan were bitten by stray dogs during the ongoing World Para Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Friday, raising serious questions about preparedness and safety at a global sporting event.

Kenya’s sprint coach Dennis Mwanzo was injured while fixing starting blocks for 200-metre sprinter Stacey Obonyo when a black-and-white stray bit him on the right calf.

He was immediately taken to Safdarjung Hospital where he received the rabies vaccine.

“At first, I thought someone was holding me, but when I turned, I saw it was a dog. I struck it to free myself. I’ve since been treated at the hospital, as we don’t know if the dog had been vaccinated,” Mwanzo told Pulsesport.co.ke.

Kenya team doctor Michael Okaro called the attack a “big sign of worry.”

In a separate incident, Japanese assistant coach Meiko Okumatsu was also bitten during a training session at the warm-up track.

“I was bitten by a dog in the morning but thankfully the medical team disinfected me quickly,” Okumatsu said.

Both coaches were first treated at the Athlete Medical Room and later given appropriate care at Safdarjung Hospital’s Anti-Rabies Clinic before returning to their hotels.

The organising committee acknowledged the incidents and attributed them to individuals repeatedly feeding stray dogs near the venue, allowing animals to re-enter despite earlier clearances.

In a statement, the organisers said they had requested the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on 21 August to safeguard the stadium by removing stray dogs.

The MCD had cleared the premises before the championships began and stationed dog-catching vehicles at the venue.

Following Friday’s events, the MCD has reinforced its deployment with two dedicated dog-catching teams and vehicles to transfer strays to shelters.

“Despite these precautionary measures, the challenge of individuals repeatedly feeding stray dogs near the venue has allowed animals to re-enter the premises. Unfortunately, this led to two isolated incidents at the warm-up track on 3 October 2025 with coaches of Japan and Kenya getting bitten,” the Organising Committee said.

The statement added that all captured animals are being relocated to shelter homes in line with animal welfare norms, while reiterating that “the safety, health and well-being of participants is non-negotiable.”

The incidents come against the backdrop of Supreme Court orders on Delhi’s stray dog population.

On August 11, the court directed that all stray dogs be relocated to dedicated shelters, but the decision was later modified following protests from animal-welfare groups.

The court then ruled that dogs should be sterilised, vaccinated and returned to their original localities in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023.

The Delhi Department of Urban Development issued guidelines on September 16 for managing the stray population, eradicating rabies and reducing human-dog conflict.

Delhi recorded 25,210 dog bite cases in 2024, a sharp increase from 17,847 the previous year, according to a Press Information Bureau release.

Nearly 3,200 cases were reported in January 2025 alone. The capital’s stray dog population is estimated at 8 lakh.

The Supreme Court’s suo motu hearing in August had directed civic bodies to relocate stray dogs within eight weeks, triggering protests from animal-welfare groups who argued that shelters lacked capacity and relocation was inhumane.

Friday’s incidents sparked anger on social media, with one user writing, “Protect strays at the cost of humans.”

Another commented, “Embarrassing moment for host nation India.” A third remarked, “People who had nothing to do with the dog problem in Delhi protested against a good solution and disappeared.”

The embarrassment comes as India hosts the World Para Athletics Championships for the first time, an event featuring over 1,200 athletes from 104 countries and viewed as a test case for the country’s ambitions to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics.

During the evening session, security guards were seen chasing away a stray from the mixed zone where athletes interact with the media.