Indian Sports Calendar in 2023: Events to watch in second week of December

Asian Sailing Championships is set to offer Paris Olympic 2024 quotas.

A lot of sporting events are lined up in the upcoming week of the Indian sports calendar. Several athletes will be seen in action this week in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Para Games. The Indian men’s junior team progressed to the quarterfinals after securing two wins in the group stages at FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2023.

Here we take a look at the events to follow in the upcoming week (December 11-17) in the Indian sports calendar:

Khelo India Para Games

The first edition of Khelo India Para Games is scheduled to be held from 10-17 December in New Delhi. A total of seven sporting categories will be featured in the first edition with several stars including Sheetal Devi, Sumit Antil taking part.

• December 10-17: Khelo India Para Games

Badminton

India is set to host third successive BWF World Tour tournament — Odisha Masters (BWF 100). Orleans Masters winner Priyanshu Rajawat is top seed in the men’s singles. Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod who enjoyed a good outing in Guwahati last week will be looking to carry forward momentum this week as well.

• December 12-17: BWF Odisha Masters

Cricket

The Indian women’s cricket team lost the opening two T20I’s to mighty English side. The host will look to avoid whitewash and set things right back on track ahead of the test series. On the other hand, the men’s cricket team head to South Africa to play in a month-long series featuring – T20, ODI and Test.

• December 10-7 January: India tour of South Africa (men’s)
• December 6-17: England Tour of India (women’s) – ongoing

Football

FC Goa leapfrogged southern giants Kerala Blasters to occupy the top spot in the ISL 10 rankings. With 21 points, FC Goa top the charts followed by Kerala with 17 points and Mohun Bagan Super Giants with 16. Surprisingly, former champions Hyderabad FC are yet to open their win coloumn and languish in the bottom of points table.

• September 21-March 2024: Indian Super League 10 (ongoing)

Hockey

Indian men’s junior hockey team reached the quarterfinals after winning two out of the three group stage encounters. They started the campaign with a win over Korea and thrashed Canada in the final round-robin match. In-between, the blue colts lost to heavyweights Spain by a three-goal margin.

The senior men’s and women’s team head to Spain for 5 Nations Tournament. This tournament will be of greater significance to women’s team with the Olympic qualifying tournament just a month ahead.

• December 15-22: 5 Nations Tournament (men’s and women’s)
• December 5-16: FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2023 (ongoing)

Sailing

Tokyo Olympians Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan are set to spearhead the Indian contingent at Asian Sailing Championships. After a two-month break post the Asian Games 2023, the Indian sailors will be back to action for the Olympic qualifying tournament.

• December 10-21: Asian Sailing Championships

Table Tennis

India’s top ranked women’s singles paddler Manika Batra will be back in action after a short break. She is scheduled to take part in singles and mixed doubles alongside Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

• December 12-17: WTT Feeder Biella

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