Lots to look forward to in Indian sports as packed 2026 calender awaits

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Exciting and challenging in equal measure, plenty would be at stake for Indian sports in 2026 with world titles up for grabs across disciplines and a fresh Olympic qualification cycle, promising some early tickets to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, set to kick off.

As India's sporting heroes, both old and new, gear up for the grind, PTI takes a look at the highlights of a choc-a-bloc calendar that is sure to have fans thoroughly engaged from the first month to the last.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH ================== The first quarter will be all about cricket as the country's favourite obsession has three World Cups this year.

It starts with the 50-over Under-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia from January 15 to February 6 where breakout teenaged stars like Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre will be closely followed.

A day after the final of this age group showpiece that has thrown up stars of Virat Kohli's stature, the senior men will begin their defence of the T20 world title in a home World Cup that will also have some games in Sri Lanka. The senior event will be held from February 7 to March 8.

The Australian Open of tennis will take place in its usual, January 12 to February 1 window, but the Indian challenge is unlikely to generate much buzz.

The All England Championships of badminton though would be keenly followed from March 3 when a fit-again P V Sindhu and the rest of the Indian players look to rebuild after a rather disappointing season.

Indian football fans would have something to look forward to as well when the AFC Women's Asian Cup kicks off from March 1 in Australia where the country's team has qualified after a long time.

APRIL-MAY-JUNE =========== Two major events that will take off towards the end of March and spill into April are the Candidates Tournament of chess in Cyprus, which will decide the challenger for the World Championship crown currently held by India's D Gukesh, and the Asian Championships of boxing in Mongolia.

Both events will start on March 28 but while the marquee chess tournament, which will feature R Praggnanandhaa from India in the Open section and R Vaishali, Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh in the women's event, will go on till April 16, the boxing event will wind up on April 11.

Asian Championships for weightlifting will be held in Ahmedabad from April 1 to 10. This will be followed the Thomas and Uber Cup of badminton from April 24 to May 3.

A few days later, the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London will kick off on April 28 to go on May 10, for which both the Indian men's and women's teams have qualified.

In June, the women's T20 World Cup will revive the focus on Harmanpreet Kaur and her teammates when they set out to add the top prize in the shortest format to the ODI world title they collected in 2025.

The athletics season would also get going with the Diamond League in May. Javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra would be expected to dazzle in these events as he gears up for the Commonwealth and the Asian Games.

Internationally, the French Open (May) and Wimbledon (June) of tennis and the FIFA World Cup of football (to be jointly hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada in June-July) will have the fans hooked.

JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER ================= A significantly scaled down Commonwealth Games from July 23 to August 2 would be a major highlight where the Indian interest will lie in athletics, boxing and weightlifting.

This is after some of the biggest medal-yielding disciplines for India, like shooting and wrestling, were dropped from the roster to ensure a tight budget.

Soon after the Games, the World Championship of badminton will be staged in Delhi from August 17 as India continues its push to become a leading host of big-ticket competitions.

A few days before this, the hockey World Cup for both men and women will begin on August 14 in Belgium and the Netherlands. While the Indian men are assured of a slot, having won the Asia Cup but the women will have to fight for theirs during the qualifiers in March.

Around the same time in Bhubaneswar, World Athletics Continental Tour silver-level event will start on August 22, which would be a landmark competition in India's calender.

September will be all about one of the most significant showpieces from where some early Olympic slots will be booked -- the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

The gold-winners in hockey will qualify for the LA Games two years later and in shooting too, quota places will be on offer.

Preceding this would be the Diamond League Finals (Athletics) on September 4 and 5 in Brussels.

The Chess Olympiad, in which India won gold medals in both the men's women's events in 2025, will have its 46th edition in Tashkent in September though the exact dates are yet to be locked.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER ===================== The last quarter of the year will have the high-profile World Championships of wrestling in Bahrain from October 24. Soon after, the World Championships of weightlifting will take place in in China from October 27 to November 8.

From November 1, shooters will eye Olympic quota places in the ISSF World Championship in Doha, Qatar (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun).

December will be dominated by the World Chess Championships for which the exact date and venue are yet to be finalised.

SLOTS YET TO BE ANNOUNCED: ==================== Neeraj Chopra's own project, the NC Classic which made its debut in July last year at Bengaluru, is expected to be back in 2026 too after the superstar said it would an annual affair. However, the window for it is not yet known.

The schedule of the 2026 World Boxing Cups is also yet to be confirmed. PTI PM AM PM AM PM