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

Archers will compete in World Championships this month.

The month of August promises to be a busy affair for Indian sports with several major events lined up in this month in the Indian sports calendar. Several World Championships across various sporting disciplines are scheduled to take place this month. The Worlds help athletes attain valuable Paris Olympics qualification ranking points.

Archery

World Archery Championships will serve as a qualification event for the Summer Olympics 2024. Experienced archers, Atanu Das and Tarundeep Rai who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics miss out from the squad with Dhiraj Bommadevara leading the men's recurve contingent. In the compound section, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma will be the Indians to watch out for.

• July 31-06 August: World Archery Championships
• August 15-20: Archery World Cup Stage IV Paris

Athletics

Several Indian athletes are slated to take part in the World Championships scheduled to be held in Hungary with reigning Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra spearheading the Indian contingent.

• August 19-27: World Athletics Championships

Badminton

The month starts with a BWF 500 tour in Australia and ends with one of the major tournaments - the World Championships. Players after the Australian Open will have a two-week break before they head to Denmark for the Worlds. The World Championships provides valuable Olympic qualifying points as well and players would want to travel deeper in the tournament.

• August 2-6: Australian Open (BWF 500)
• August 21-27: Badminton World Championships

Basketball

A total of six teams are set to take part in the Olympics pre-qualifying Asia Championship in Syria. The winner of this tournament will qualify for the 2024 FIBA Men's Olympic qualifying tournaments. Each team plays each other once and the team to top the table qualifies.

• August 12-17: FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia

Cricket

The Indian men's cricket team will head into the third ODI eyeing a title sweep. India beat the Windies in the first game of the three-match series, but were defeated in the second. Following the ODI series, India will also face West Indies in a five-match T20I series, starting August 3.

• July 12-13 August: India's Tour of West Indies (Ongoing)

Cycling

Top Indian cyclists Esow Alben and Ronaldo Singh are set to spearhead the Indian contingent at the Cycling Championships. Ronaldo Singh broke two NR at the Asian Championships in June and shall look to continue the same at the Worlds.

• August 3-13: World Cycling Championships

Football

The 132nd edition of Asia's oldest football tournament, Durand Cup is scheduled to be held for one month across August. A total of 24 clubs are set to participate in the tournament with, teams from Bangladesh and Bhutan too plying their trade in this edition.

• August 03-03 September: Durand Cup

Handball

A total of five teams - India, China, Japan, Kore, and Kazakhstan are slated to take part in the 2024 Olympics qualifiers scheduled to be held in Japan. The winner of the competition secures a direct quota to Paris. The team which finishes second progresses to the World qualification tournament.

• August 17-23: Asian Women's qualifiers

Hockey

The Indian hockey team had a tough time at Torneo del Centenario - a four-nation tournament in Spain. In the four matches that they played, India registered a single win while drawing two and losing. Now the action shifts to the Asian Champions Trophy with top Asian countries plying their trade in the tournament ahead of the Asian games.

• August 3-12: Asian Champions Trophy

Sailing

The Indian sailors after taking part in the Olympics test event last month will be back to action with a span of weeks for World Sailing Championships. This will be the sixth edition of the World and a total of 12 titles are at stake. Tokyo Olympians, Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan will be spearheading the Indian contingent.

• August 10-20: World Sailing Championships

Shooting

The second world championships inside the Olympics qualification year is scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Three shooters Rudrankksh Patil, Swapnil Kusare, and Bhowneesh Mendiratta have secured a quota each in their respective categories at last year's Worlds and others would look to add a few more slots for Paris 2024.

• August 17-31: ISSF World Shooting Championships

Sports Climbing

Young Indian sports climbers will be seen in action at the IFSC World Climbing Championships scheduled to be held in Switzerland. National Record holder in speed category Deepu Gowda who looked in fine form isn't part of the Indian squad.

• August 01-12: IFSC Climbing World Championships

Table Tennis

After a two-week break, the WTT action shifts to South America which is set to host two tournaments in Lima and Rio. The tour again takes a stop for two weeks making a shift to Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

• July 31-6 August: WTT Contender, Lima
• August 07-13: WTT Contender, Rio
• August 29-03 September: WTT Contender, Almaty

Tennis

The tennis action for the next month until the US Open shall remain in North America. Players have the liberty to take part in the Masters event which acts as a precursor to the final grand slam of the season - US Open.

• August 21-27: Cincinnati Masters
• August 07-13: Canadian Open
• August 28-10 September: US Open

Volleyball

Asian Volleyball Championships will be looked in as a preparatory tournament for the Asian Games. The men's team have gained good experience and exposure by playing alongside foreign star in the Prime Volleyball League and this will also be their first national assignment post the PVL.

• August 19-26: Asian Volleyball Championships
• August 04-13 - Volleyball Boys U-19 World Championships