From January 20th to 26th, 2026, the spotlight will be decisively on Nakhon Ratchasima as the city hosts the 13th ASEAN Para Games, welcoming more than 2,000 athletes from across Southeast Asia. Hot on the heels of Thailand’s hosting of the 33rd SEA Games, the Para Games promise an equally intense and emotionally resonant spectacle rooted in competition, accessibility, and shared regional pride.
January will also feature the city at its best, as cool mornings and breezy evenings should make moving between venues easy, while the tightly packed one-week schedule ensures every day feels consequential. Organizers recommend arriving early to catch the Opening Ceremony, which is expected to blend Isan cultural motifs with modern staging to best set the tone for a Games built on both tradition and progress.
Korat as the clear choice
No stranger to major athletic events, Nakhon Ratchasima – commonly known as Korat – previously hosted the 2007 SEA Games and 2008 ASEAN Para Games, and more recently staged the IWAS World Games 2020 and World Ability sport Games 2025. Its venues, transport links, and accessibility infrastructure have been tested repeatedly at the international level.
Korat has also often been described as the “Capital of Para Sports in Thailand”, having served as the national training base for over 200 Thai para athletes, many of whom have gone on to win medals at the Paralympics and world championships.
Rivalries to watch for
The Games will feature a record 19 sports across 536 medal events, with competition expected to be as fierce as any able-bodied multi-sport event in the region.
Fan favorites include wheelchair basketball, prized for its speed and physicality; blind football, where silence heightens every moment; and para athletics, with blade runners and wheelchair racers delivering some of the Games’ most electric finishes.
Regionally, the stakes are high. Indonesia has topped the medal table at the last three ASEAN Para Games and is openly targeting another overall title after extensive centralized training. Vietnam, meanwhile, arrives with ambitions of 40-50 gold medals, building on its strong recent record. Thailand, competing on home ground, is of course keen to reclaim regional supremacy.
Beyond medals and records
Behind the scenes, Thai authorities have emphasized security, accessibility, and athlete welfare, with test events already conducted and all competition venues inspected. Officials stress that safety and unity remain central to the Games’ delivery.
Beyond logistics, the ASEAN Para Games remain what they’ve historically been at their heart, namely a platform for recognition and equality. Each performance is a reminder that elite sports are defined by discipline, preparation, and will, rather than limitations.
As always, the appeal for spectators is the opportunity to observe world-class sports and athleticism by day, then visiting the Ya Mo Monument or Korat’s night markets by night, fueled by local culinary crowd-pleasers like Pad Mee Korat and Moo Ping (grilled pork with sticky rice).
