While the year 2022 has given us a fair share of sporting memories to cherish, it’s now time to look forward to what 2023 has to offer for all of us sports fans. For fans of football, there is the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup where India will feature. Cricket lovers meanwhile can look forward to both the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the Men’s ODI World Cup.
Tennis fans will eagerly anticipate the four majors where Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will try to fend off the rising young contenders. There’s also the Hockey World Cup on the horizon along with the Athletic World Championships.
Here’s a list of all the major sports events to look forward to in 2023:
January 16th to 29th - Australian Open | The first Tennis Major of the year will kick off on January 16th as Rafael Nadal will look to defend the title he won last year after a gruelling five-set battle against Daniil Medvedev. Ashleigh Barty meanwhile ended Australia’s 44-year wait for a home winner at the tournament but then announced her retirement at the age of 25 soon after, meaning she won’t be defending the title this year.
January 13th to 29th - FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup | The Hockey World Cup organised by the International Hockey Federation will be held in India this year at Rourkela, Bhubaneswar. India will feature among the 26 participating teams. The hosts and 1975 champions India are placed in Pool D along with England, Spain and Wales. Pakistan are the record winners of the tournament with four world titles while Belgium come into this edition as defending champions.
February 10th to 26th - ICC Women’s T20 World Cup | The eight edition of the Women's T20 World Cup will be held in South Africa next year. Ten teams will participate and they’ve been split into two groups for the group stage where teams will play each other once. Post that the top two teams in each group will play the semi-finals. Five-time winners and defending champions Australia are grouped alongside New Zealand, hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group 1 while India are in Group 2 featuring Pakistan, England, West Indies and Ireland.
March - Women’s IPL | The Inaugural Women's IPL is likely to be played from March 3rd to 26th however the dates are yet to be confirmed by the BCCI. The league is expected to feature five franchise teams and the playing XI can include five overseas players. In the league phase each team will play the other twice with the table toppers progressing straight to the Final.
April to June - IPL 2023 | The BCCI is yet to finalise the dates for the 10-team tournament, which will see a return to the home-and-away format, which was shelved due to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament will most likely only start after the final of the Women’s IPL which is anticipated to take place on March 26. The 16th edition of the IPL is expected to begin on April 1 and run up to June 4th, however the dates are yet to be confirmed by the BCCI.
May 28 to June 11- French Open | Roland-Garros 2023 will begin on May 28th and will see Rafael Nadal return in his familiar role as defending champion. Nadal won a record-extending 14th French Open title last year. Iga Swiatek will be defending her crown in the Women’s Singles category after she won her second title last year.
June 16th to July 16th - AFC Asian Cup 2023 | Defending champions Qatar will host the Asian Cup for the third time in their history, a year after hosting the FIFA World Cup. The Asian Cup is held every four years. India have qualified for the tournament, making it their fifth appearance. The Blue Tigers’ best-ever run at the Asian Cup was a runners-up finish in their debut campaign in 1964. In the 2019 edition, India failed to make it out of the group stage.
July 3rd to July 16th - Wimbledon | The oldest and most prestigious tournament in the tennis calendar will start on July 3. This year Novak Djokovic will defend his crown as men’s champion while Eleba Rybaina will be the defending women’s champion after winning her first Grand Slam title last year.
July 20th to August 20th - FIFA Women’s World Cup | The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will be the ninth edition of competition and will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. 32 nations will compete in the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2023. Record four-time winners United States of America enter the tournament as defending champions.
August 28th to September 10th - US Open | The final Major of the tennis calendar will begin in late August in New York City. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek are the men’s and women’s defending champions respectively. Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam singles title in New York last year while also becoming the youngest world No 1 in men’s tennis.
August 19th to 27th - IAAF World Championships | The 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19th to 27th August in Budapest, Hungary. The qualification standards for the tournament have already been released which athletes have to achieve within a period ranging from 31st July 2022 to 30th July 2023 to qualify.
September - Grand Prix of Bharat | India will make its debut as a host on the MotoGP calendar in 2023 as the Grand Prix of Bharat is set to be held at the Buddh International Circuit. The race has been given the September 22-24 slot on the provisional calendar. The organisers have signed a seven-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Bharat GP.
(Image: AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
October - ICC Men’s ODI World Cup | The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 13th edition of the 50-over World Cup and is set to be hosted in India for the fourth time in its history. Ten teams will contest for the trophy and the tournament will follow a similar format to 2019, with a round-robin stage followed by the knockouts. England are defending champions after lifting the trophy in a dramatic super-over finale against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2019.
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
