Indian Sports Calendar in 2023: Major events to look forward to in May

Neeraj Chopra will be back in action with the commencement of the Diamond League 2023.

The 2024 Paris Olympics qualification cycle for the majority of the sports has already started. The upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar is going to offer non-stop sporting action starting with IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships followed by the Asian Weightlifting Championships (Olympic qualifying event). The BWF Tour will commence after a month's break. 

Here we take a look at the events to follow in the upcoming month (01 May - 31 May) in the Indian sports calendar.

Tennis

28 May - 11 June - French Open (Grand Slam)

Doubles - Rohan Bopanna / Matthew Ebden

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden shall look to continue their good run in the second grand slam of the year. Yui Bhambri/Saketh Myneni and Jeevan/Balaji might also feature at the grand slam (not confirmed). 

Sumit Nagal is having a decent run ahead of the French Open and might feature in the qualifiers (as a wildcard or qualify directly)

08 May - 21 May - Rome Masters (ATP 1000) 

Doubles - Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden

Rohan Bopanna is the lone Indian to feature in the main draw of the second tournament of the upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar. Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni, Jeevan, and Balaji currently feature in the alternate list.

Table Tennis

20 May - 28 May - ITTF World Table Tennis Championships, Durban

Men’s - Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sharath Kamal, Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar

Women’s - Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Reeth Rishya, Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra will be spearheading the Indian contingent at the only Table Tennis tournament in the upcoming month of Indian Sports Calendar.

Weightlifting

03 May - 13 May - Asian Weightlifting Championships

The continental championship in the upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar will be the second in the series of qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medallist will be leading the six-member Indian contingent.

Men - Shubham Todkar (61kg), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg), Narayana Ajith (73kg)

Women - Mirabai Chanu (49kg) and Bindyarani Devi (55kg)

Boxing

01 May - 14 May - IBA Men’s Boxing Championships

Squad - Govind Sahani (48kg), Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Sachin Siwach Jr. (54kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Akash Sangwan (67kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Ashish Chaudhary (80kg), Harsh Choudhary (86kg), Naveen Kumar (92kg) and Narender Berwal (92+kg)

The 27-year-old Tokyo Olympian missed out on qualifying for the World Championships. 2015 World Championships bronze medallist Shiva Thapa will be leading the Indian contingent. 

Fencing

12 May - 14 May - Coupe De Monde (Sabre)

Karan Singh and Bhavani Devi will be leading the Indian contingent in the men’s and women’s section. Bhavani Devi stood 56th at the Seoul Grand Prix held last month of the Indian Sports Calendar.

05 May - Epee Grand Prix 

Men’s - Udaivir Singh

Women’s - Tanishka Khatri

19 May - Coupe De Monde (Epée)

Men’s - Udaivir Singh

Women’s - Tanishka Khatri

Athletics

05 May - Diamond League, Doha

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra is set to start his 2023 season at the Doha Diamond League, the first of the series of 14 events in the Indian Sports Calendar. Commonwealth Games silver medallist Eldhose Paul (triple jump) will be making his maiden appearance at the Diamond League.

15 May - 18 May - Senior National Federation Cup 

28 May - Rabat Diamond League

Judo

07 May - 14 May - World Judo Championships, Doha

Squad

Men’s - Arun Kumar (73kg) and Avtar Singh (100kg)

Women’s - Tulika Maan (+78kg)

Three Indian Judokas are set to take part in the World Judo Championships. Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medallist Tukila Maan will be in action alongside Rio Olympian Avtar Singh.

Shooting

04 May - 15 May - ISSF Shooting World Cup (Rifle/Pistol), Baku

This ISSF World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) of the upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar will be the fifth of the season, with the last one concluding recently in Lima. The NRAI (National Rifle Association of India) announced 22-member Indian squad for the World Cup. 

20 May - 31 May - ISSF Shooting World Cup (Shot Gun)

Taekwondo

29 May - 06 June - World Taekwondo Championships, Baku

India missed out on taking part in the previous edition held in Mexico due to visa issues. The 16-member squad was announced last month of the Indian Sports Calendar (eight men and women) and will be heading to Baku to put up a good show.

Men's

Aman Kumar (Under 54kg)

Niram Chaudhar (Under 58kg)

Ajay Kumar (Under 63kg)

Prithvi Raj Chouhan (Under 68kg)

Shivam Tyagi (Under 74kg)

Rishabh Chaudhar (Under 80kg)

Gulshan Sharma (Under 87kg)

Preetham Raghu (Over 87kg)

Women's

Twisha Kakadiya (Under 46kg)

Deeksha (Under 49kg)

Latika Bhandari (Under 53kg)

Sonam (Under 57kg)

Sonia Khan (Under 62kg)

Margerette Regi (Under 67kg)

Etisha Das (Under 73kg)

Rodali Barua (Over 73kg)

Hockey

26 May - 04 June - FIH Men’s Pro League, London

Schedule

26 May - Belgium vs India

27 May - India vs Great Britain

02 June - India vs Belgium

03 June - India vs Great Britain

The month of May in the Indian Sports Calendar will see the Indian hockey team return to action. Craig Fulton will be the head coach of Indian men’s hockey and the Pro League matches will be first assignment. India is currently placed in the top spot with 19 points from 8 matches. 

18 May - 27 May - Indian women's Tour of Australia

18 May - India vs Australia 

20 May - India vs Australia

21 May - India vs Australia

25 May - India vs Australia A

27 May - India vs Australia A

23 May - 01 June - Men's Hockey Junior Asia Cup

India is placed alongside Pakistan in Group A. The tournament serves as the Asian qualifier for the 2023 FIH men's hockey world cup.

Archery

16 May - 21 May - Archery World Cup Stage II, Shanghai

India claimed four medals in the World Cup Stage I held in Antalya. Jyothi Surekha Vennam was the top performer in the compound section (two gold medals). Atanu Das made a good comeback into the squad by reaching the fourth round in men’s individual and winning a silver medal in the men’s team. 21-year-old Dhiraj Bommadevara won the bronze medal in men’s recurve individual.

Badminton

14 May - 21 May - Sudirman Cup, Suzhou

23 May - 28 May - Malaysia Masters (BWF Super 500), Kuala Lumpur

30 May - 04 June - Thailand Open (BWF Super 500), Bangkok

The Sudirman Cup will be the first ranking tournament of the Paris Olympics 2024 in the upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar. India will look to make a mark in the prestigious Mixed team championships. The action then shifts to two BWF 500 tournaments.

Sports Climbing

06 May to 07 May - IFSC Climbing World Cup (Speed), Jakarta

Deepu Gowda will be taking part in the second consecutive World Cup in the upcoming month of the Indian Sports Calendar. He created a new national record in speed climbing (Seoul World Cup) last month.

Surfing

30 May - 07 June - World Surfing Games, El Salvador

Indian men's team is set to debut at the World Surfing Games.

Squad - Ajeesh Ali, Sivaraj Babu, Ramesh Bhudial, and Sanjay Selvamani.