Indian Sports Calendar April 2024: Major events to look forward to this month

Road to Paris 2024 heats up with multiple qualification events scheduled in April.

With less than four months to go, the Indian athletes are gearing up for the prestigious Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian sports calendar in March saw more athletes qualifying for the Summer Games, as both men’s and women’s table tennis teams had impressive outings at the ITTF World Team Championships Finals 2024.

The month of April will witness some crucial Olympic Qualifiers as the Indian athletes will aim to increase the number of berths/quota places earned for Paris 2024. In addition, non-Olympic sports events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) will also entertain audiences.

Major events to watch in April in Indian Sports Calendar

Archery

The Indian archers will look to prove their mettle at the Archery World Cup Stage I, scheduled from April 23 to April 28, 2024, in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. A national trial was held to select a 16-member squad (both recurve and compound) for Stage I. The eight archers chosen for the recurve archery team will serve as the provisional squad for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Former World No. 1 Deepika Kumari, Paris Olympics quota place holder Dhiraj Bommadevara, and Tokyo Olympians Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav are a few athletes to look out for in recurve events. Meanwhile, in the non-Olympic compound events, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Abhishek Verma and Aditi Gopichand Swami will be leading the Indian contingent in China.

• April 23-28: Archery World Cup Stage I

Athletics

The Wanda Diamond League is set to begin in April, with two of the 15 meetings slated to be held in China’s Xiamen on April 20 and Shanghai on April 28, 2024. Prominent Olympians and global championships medalists will be eager to kickoff their outdoor season campaigns at these two meetings.

The meetings will provide points to the athletes who are aiming to secure a spot in the Diamond League 2024 finals in Brussels, Belgium, on September 13-14.

India’s Abdulla Aboobacker will feature in the triple jump event in the Xiamen Diamond League, while the list of athletes participating at the Shanghai Diamond League isn’t out yet. Meanwhile, the Indian junior stars will aim to deliver some breakthrough performances at the SAFF Athletics Junior Championships in Chennai.

• April 12-14: SAFF Athletics Junior Championships
• April 20: Xiamen Diamond League
• April 27: Shanghai Diamond League

Badminton

The Indian shuttlers will be eyeing to boost their Road to Paris Olympics 2024 rankings through impressive performances at the Badminton Asia Championships 2024. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, H.S. Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and P.V. Sindhu are some of the prominent shuttlers who will be in action at the continental tournament.

One of the biggest team tournaments, Thomas & Uber Cup, will be occurring towards the end of this month. India’s men’s team will set their sights on defending their Thomas Cup title, while the women’s team will look to win their maiden title after bagging a historic gold at the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2024.

• April 9-14: Badminton Asia Championships
• April 27-5 May: Thomas & Uber Cup

Cricket

The most popular cricket league in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is currently in its 17th installment taking place at multiple venues in India with the finals scheduled next month on May 26 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

• March 22-May 26: Indian Premier League (Ongoing)

Football

After the international break, the Indian Super League (ISL), which is the men’s professional football league in India, is slated to resume on March 30, 2024. The Indian domestic football season also features various I-League and I-League 2 matches.

• September 21, 2023-May 2024: Indian Super League (ISL) (Ongoing)
• October 28, 2023-13 April 2024: I-League (Ongoing)
• January 20-21 April 2024: I-League 2 (Ongoing)
• March 30-2 May 2024: AIFF Junior League (Ongoing)

Gymnastics

The Indian gymnasts are preparing for the final FIG World Cup 2024 series in their quest to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024. Rio Olympics 2016 vault fourth-place finisher Dipa Karmakar, and Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak are the gymnasts to watch out for at the FIG World Cup 2024 in Doha.

• April 17-20: FIG World Cup Series IV Doha

Judo

The Indian judokas will mark their participation at the Asian Judo Championships 2024, scheduled in Hong Kong, China.

• April 20-23: Asian Judo Championships

Sailing

Indian sailors will have a final opportunity to secure their spots at the Paris Olympics during the Last Chance Regatta (Semaine Olympique Française), which will take place from April 18 to 27 in Hyères. This sailing regatta will offer 39 quota places in windsurfing, kite, dinghy, skiff and mixed multihull events to the NOCs (National Olympic Committees) that have not qualified from previous competitions.

It’s worth noting that Vishnu Saravanan is the only one who has secured a sailing quota for the Paris Olympics 2024 so far. He achieved this by finishing 26th out of 152 participants at the ILCA-7 World Championship 2024.

• April 18-27: Sailing Olympic Qualifiers (Semaine Olympique Française)

Shooting

India is sending its largest contingent to the Paris Olympics in the shooting category, with 19 athletes already securing quotas for the country. These talented shooters will aim to secure five more quotas, specifically one each in men’s and women’s trap and skeet and one in women’s air pistol. They will have the opportunity to do so at the final Olympic Qualifiers for both rifle/pistol (from April 11 to 14) and shotgun (from April 19 to 29). It’s worth noting that the maximum quota a NOC can secure is 24.

• April 11-20: ISSF Final Olympic Qualifiers Rifle/Pistol
• April 19-29-: ISSF Final Olympic Qualifiers Shotgun

Table Tennis

With the steady rise of Indian paddlers in the ranks, the table tennis tournaments are ones to watch out for. The World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event is particularly crucial, with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra leading India’s challenge.

• April 2-7: WTT Feeder Varazdin 2024
• April 8-12: WTT Feeder Düsseldorf 2024
• April 11-12: World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event, Havirov
• April 14-17: WTT Feeder Havirov 2024
• April 15-21: ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup, Macao
• April 17-20: WTT Youth Contender Luxembourg 2024
• April 17-20: WTT Youth Contender Santiago 2024
• April 22-28: WTT Youth Contender Spa 2024
• April 22-28: WTT Youth Contender Metz 2024
• April 29-5 May: WTT Youth Contender Puerto Princesa 2024

Tennis

In tennis, the experienced doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden is set to put on a noteworthy performance at the Monte-Carlo Masters 2024. Meanwhile, Sumit Nagal will compete in the qualifying rounds of both the Estoril Open and BMW Open 2024.

• Mar 30-7 April: Estoril Open (Portugal)
• April 7-14: Monte-Carlo Masters (France)
• April 15-21: BMW Open (Germany)

Wrestling

The wrestlers who competed in the national trials, organized by the ad-hoc committee last month, will vie for top positions at the Seniors Asian Championships and Asian Olympic Games Qualifiers 2024.

Given the close scheduling of both tournaments in Bishkek, the athletes who won the trials will participate in the Paris 2024 Qualifiers, while the runners-up will compete in the Senior Championships. Vinesh Phogat (women’s 50kg freestyle) and Aman Sehrawat (men’s 57kg freestyle) will spearhead India’s challenge at the Olympic Qualifiers

• April 11-16: Seniors Asian Championships
• April 19-21: Asian Olympic Games Qualifiers

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