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

Several important events are lined up in this month for Indian athletes.

The month of June promises to be a busy affair for Indian sports with several major events lined up in this month in the Indian sports calendar. With the qualification cycle for Paris Olympics 2024 already kicking off last month, the season keeps getting busier every month as athletes get fully immersed into the season eyeing a berth in Paris.

From the WTT Contenders in table tennis to the ongoing BWF World Tour in badminton, June has several major events. There is also the Archer World Cup Stage 3 in Colombia, while the Indian men's football team will also be in action at home. Here is a look at the events to follow in the Indian sports calendar in June.

Archery

After decent campaigns in Stage 1 and Stage 2, India will eye a similar performance in Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup, which will take place in Medellin, Colombia from June 13 to 18. Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale were India's star performers in the opening two stages.

• June 13-18: Archery World Cup Stage 3

Athletics

The Asian U-20 Athletics Championships 2023 will get underway in Yecheon, South Korea from June 4 to 7. India have named a total of 28 athletes, including 12 female athletes for the event. Apart from that, Murali Sreeshankar will be in action in the Paris Diamond League, while Neeraj Chopra is likely to participate in the Paavo Nurmi Games as well as the Golden Spike Ostrava meet in Czech Republic, if he recovers from his injury.

• June 04-07: Asian U-20 Athletic Championships
• June 9: Paris Diamond League
• June 13: Paavo Nurmi Games
• June 15-19: National Inter States Athletics Meet
• June 27: Golden Spike Ostrava Athletics Meet

Badminton

The Paris Olympic Games 2024 qualification has officially begun with the commencement of BWF tour titles (Malaysia Masters). Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will begin their campaign at the Thailand Open and India’s top singles player HS Prannoy will look to continue his fine form in the upcoming month.

• May 30-04 June: Thailand Open (BWF 500)
• June 06-11: Singapore Open (BWF 750)
• June 13-18: Indonesia Open (BWF 1000)
• June 20-25: Taipei Open (BWF 300)

Cycling

The likes of Esow Alban, Ronalado Singh, etc are set to spearhead the Indian contingent at the Cycling Championships. Esow Alban from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands finished on the podium in the recently concluded UCI class I event. Asian Championships provide athletes with good Olympic ranking points and all the cyclists will look to make use of it.

• June 14-19: Asian Track Cycling Championships

Fencing

• June 18: Asian Fencing Championships

Football

June will be a busy month for the Indian national football team with two back-to-back tournaments lineup up at home. The Blue Tigers will begin with the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar against Lebanon, Vanuatu, and Mongolia. This will be immediately followed by the SAFF Championship 2023 in Bengaluru, which will be an eight-team affair.

• June 9-18: Intercontinental Cup
• June 21-4 July: SAFF Championship
• June 15 - 02 July - AFC U-17 Championships

Hockey

After back-to-back losses against Olympic Champions Belgium and Great Britain, India will look to come back strong in the FIH Men’s Hockey Pro League 2022-23. India were sitting pretty on the top spot but with two losses, have slipped a spot down with rivals Great Britain leapfrogging them. 

• June 02-11: FIH Pro League
• June 03-11: Women's Junior Asia Cup

Rowing

The action from the Czech Republic shift to Italy for Rowing World Cup Stage II. The Indian men’s four-member team finished a historic fourth spot last month and were close to finishing on the podium. After a spirited performance, the Indian team will take the confidence forward and perform to their best.

• June 16-18: Rowing World Cup Stage II, Italy

Table Tennis

A total of three WTT Contender series are set to be held this month. None of the Indian paddlers reached the quarter-finals stages at the recently concluded World Table Tennis Championships. With the Paris Olympic Games fast approaching, the players shall look to start performing well and stay strong ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.

• June 12-18: WTT Contender Lagos
• June 20-25: WTT Contender Tunis
• June 26-02 July: WTT Contender Zagreb

Tennis

Rohan Bopanna will be spearheading the Indian contingent at the Roland Garros 2023. While, after receiving an entry as alternates at the Australia Open, the Indian men's doubles pair of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni have made a direct entry to French Open due to their improved rankings. 

Yuvan Nandal has made it to the main draw whereas Aryan Shah will have to grind it out through the qualifiers to get into the main draw. Soon after the French Open, the action shifts towards grass courts and all the players would be looking to master the playing conditions ahead of the Wimbledon Championships. 

• May 28-11 June: French Open
• June 19-25: Halle Open (ATP 500)
• June 19-25: Queen’s Club Championship (ATP 500)

Weightlifting

The first Grand Prix of the season (ranking points added for Paris Olympic Games qualification) is set to be held in Cuba. A few Indian wrestlers were slated to take part in the competition but there has been no official entry yet.

• June 08-18: IWF Grand Prix I, Cuba