A Handy Guide for Indian Sports Fans

Like 2022, 2023 will be packed with sports from the World Cup, a quadrennial multisport event, along with multiple World and Asian Championships.

From India’s point of view, next year is very important. 2023 will see Indian athletes take part in multi-sport events for the third year in a row, with the Asian Games postponed due to COVID-19 set to take place in China in his September.

In 2021 and 2022, Indian athletes will set new standards at the Tokyo Olympics and Birmingham Commonwealth Games, with similar extraordinary performances expected at Asiad in Hangzhou. Additionally, this year is the peak of the Olympic qualifying cycle and there are numerous opportunities for the Indian athlete to qualify for her Paris 2024 Games.

Here’s ESPN India’s handy guide on what to watch out for in 2023.

(For more information, see our detailed calendar of all Indians active till 2023)

Hockey World Cup in January (Men)

Starting this year, India will host the Men’s Hockey World Cup in Orissa from 13-29 January.

At the 2018 World Cup, also held in Orissa, India lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. But since then the team has won medals at his 2021 Olympics (bronze) and 2022 Commonwealth Games (silver) and the FIH Pro League (in the ’20-’21 edition he finished 3rd). I have been doing well and getting stronger.

The host will be placed in Pool D alongside England, Spain and Wales. India will launch her campaign against Spain on January 13th.

And in hockey, both India’s men’s and women’s teams compete in the FIH Pro League (the top nine-team competition) throughout the year. The men’s team made it through the rankings while the women’s team qualified by winning the FIH Nations Cup.

Asian Games in October

This will be a big test for Indian athletes. The Asian Games will serve as both a dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympics and an Olympic qualifier for many disciplines.

As we build momentum like we did in our last edition in 2018 and are about to carry it into the next Olympic cycle and the Games in Tokyo, keep an eye out for the names of all the stars in India who are performing in all major sports. . Asiad sees the Indian Kabaddi team in action for the first time in a while and this edition debuts the new Olympic Sport Braking and his eSports.

cricket world cup

Yes, World Cup. Many. 2023 will host three different World Cups: the Women’s T20 World Cup in February, the Men’s ODI World Cup in October and the first-ever Women’s U19 World Cup in January (postponed due to the pandemic). From an Indian cricket perspective, the World Cup is always a highlight and this year is no exception.

Athletics World Championships in August

The World Athletics Championships will be held for the second year in a row in 2023 (the one postponed due to COVID-19 was held last year). From 19 August 2023 he will be held in Budapest until 27 August. At the 2022 Olympics in Oregon, his champion Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a medal at the World Championships, but was not satisfied with the silver he won. There are also athletics and Neeraj in his Chopra in his watch, Diamonds in his league competitions throughout the year.

Asian Wrestling Championships in March and April

Delhi will also host the Asian Wrestling Championships from March 28th to April 2nd. Delhi also held a tournament in February 2020. This tournament is important as it determines his seeding for the World Championships in September, an Olympic qualifier.

Wrestling World Championships in September

This will lead to the World Championships being held in Belgrade, Serbia for the second year in a row. A date has yet to be confirmed as it overlaps with the postponed Asian Games. Worlds has 90 Olympic quota his spots, five in each category. This will be a very important event for Indian wrestlers.

Boxing World Championships — March for women, May for men

India will host the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship for the third time (after 2006 and 2018). New Delhi is the host this year. The IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from May 1 to 14 next year.

India has a world champion named Nikhat Zareen who is also ESPN India’s Female Athlete of the Year for the 2022 title. She hopes to defend her title at home, and New Delhi 2023 will also be the first event to introduce digital ratings and match reviews, touted as key tools in the sport of boxing.

The world of weightlifting and table tennis

Other world championships this year are the World Weightlifting Championships, scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September, and the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships, an individual world championship event, in Durban in May. Milabaichanu is once again a medal contender (she won silver in her 2022), but the elusive table tennis medal will be one of her ever-improving TT athlete goals. .

indian badminton

Indian badminton is at a stage where every tournament has something to watch out for. In January 2023, PV Sindhu is set to make an injury-related return after missing half of the 2022 season after suffering an injury while winning gold at his Commonwealth Games in July. In men’s singles, India currently has three top-15 players: No. 7 Raksha Sen, No. 8 HS Pranoi and No. 12 Kidambi Srikanth. The highest-ranked Indians and ESPN India’s Male Athletes of the Year are world No. 5 Satwirsairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

These athletes have built a reputation in 2022 with historic wins at the Thomas Cup and a sweep of the CWG, and are sure to bring that momentum into the new year when the Olympic qualifying cycle begins in May. The big tournament is the Asian Games, always a tough proposition for badminton, the World Championships in August and his Sudirman Cup in May – the mixed team World Championships alternating with the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup.

Note: The Indian Open, which will be held in Delhi in January, will be upgraded to 750 this year and will feature the world’s top stars despite a deadly draw for the Indians.

indian football

The 2023 AFC Asian Cup could be postponed to 2024. The venue has changed from China to Qatar, where the weather conditions mean winter is the best bet. But there are two other continental club competitions to watch in Indian football. The AFC Cup and AFC Champions League later this year.

Women’s FIFA World Cup in August

The Women’s FIFA World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand. The tournament has been expanded to 32 teams as well as the men’s. USA has won his defending championship twice. Remember Meghan Rapinoe was a bowler in 2019?

In addition, men’s rugby world cup Held in France and Men’s in September and October basketball world cup Held in multiple Asian countries in August and September.