India’s sports calendar, 2023: Asian Games, Hockey World cup and more…

It is going to be an action-packed year in the sports sector and for the Indian audiences, there are many events they will be able to catch in the country itself. From the hockey world cup, cricket world cup to the Asian Games – we bring you a list of major events this year you must save the date for. To our luck, India will be hosting a series of national and international events in 2023 and here are some events you must mark your calendars for:

Organized by the International Hockey Federation, Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 will be the 15th edition and this quadrennial world championship will be held in India in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

Hockey world cup is scheduled to be held between 13th to 29th January 2023 – kicking off the year for all sports enthusiasts with a bang, especially Indian sports fans who have the advantage and opportunity to catch their team live in action. The much-awaited largest hockey stadium in India has been planned and under construction in Rourkela which will be unveiled during the 2023 hockey world cup.

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The Asian Games, 2023

To be held in China in September 2023 till 8th October 2023, the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 is going to be a multi-sport event. All 45 National Olympic Committees known to be members of the Olympic Council of Asia are expected to be participating in the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.

The six nations – India, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are known to have competed at every Asian Game since 1951. It is also known that since 2021 athletes from Oceania would be invited to compete in selected events like roller skating, weightlifting, wushu amongst other events.

Khelo India Youth Games, 2023

2023 marks the 5th year for the Khelo India Youth Games that will be held in Madhya Pradesh from 31st Jan 2023 to 11 Feb 2023. These games will also include indigenous games like Mallakhamb which is also the state sport of Madhya Pradesh.

The Khelo games are helping India and states build their sports infrastructure while also promoting sports at the grassroot level. The 2023 edition of the games will have 27 disciplines with water sports being included for the first time that will have games like Rowing, Kayaking, Canoeing and more along with some indigenous games.

Eight cities in Madhya Pradesh will host the event, these cities are that of Gwalior, Jabalpur, Mandla, Khargone, Balaghat, Ujjain, Indore and Bhopal.

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World Badminton Championship

BWF World Championship 2023 will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 21-27th August 2023.
Copenhagen will be hosting the Badminton Championship event for the fifth time. There are five main events in this – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

For Indian shuttlers – this will be a crucial year. Indian badminton players have had a memorable 2022 with a rich medal haul at Commonwealth Games and Thomas Cup title. With our key players like PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Kidamni Srikanth, HS Prannoy amongst others – 2023 should be action packed for the major titles of badminton.

Men’s world boxing championship, 2023

The 2023 Men’s world boxing championship will be held from 1st May to 14th May at the Uzbek capital.

Umar Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) announced that this year the prize money is double from the previous edition. First place will be awarded with USD 200,000; second place will be awarded with USD 100,000 and bronze medalist will be awarded with USD 50,000 each.

Uzbekistan is ranked overall 6th in all-time medals tally for Men’s World Championship. The event to be held at Tashkent is much awaited by the boxing community, especially Indian fans considering how Indian athletes are known to be regular medal winners at international boxing tournaments like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics.

Post this event, the Women’s world championships will be held in India and our star player like Nikhat Zareen will have the world’s eyes set on her performance.

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Cricket World Cup 2023

The defending champions, England, along with other teams are set to fight for the world’s biggest title in Cricket – the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. This year will mark the 13th edition of the cricket world cup for ODI’s. The event is scheduled to be held in India – which will be an absolute joy for the cricket frenzy nation of India.

While the event was scheduled to be held in Feb- March, an announcement gave more information on the tournament being delayed to October-November window due to disruption caused because of COVID-19 pandemic.

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World weightlifting championship, 2023

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will be the hosts for this year’s World Weightlifting championship that is scheduled to be held in the latter half of the year from 2nd to 17th September 2023. This event will also serve as a mandatory event to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Indian athletes in weightlifting like Mirabai Chanu, Achintha Sheuli, Bindhyarani Devi, Gurdeep Singh amongst others can be the possible athletes we would be cheering on to win the crucial medals for the country for the 2023 weightlifting championship.

Other sporting events Indian athletes and teams are looking forward to are the Thomas Cup – Badminton, The World Athletes Championship to be held in Budapest, Hungary in August will bring to light the Indian track and field stars like Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable and others to bring back the gold, silver or bronze medals.

These events are sure to give us our share of adrenaline for the year and offer us the timely need of excitement we can all use in our daily lives. So, save the date and get ready to cheer for your favourite team or athletes.

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Author: Mankiran