Indian Sports Calendar 2026: From T20 World Cup To IPL To Asian Games - Full List

Exciting and challenging in equal measure, plenty will 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. As India's sporting heroes, both old and new, gear up for the grind, a look at the highlights of a choc-a-bloc calendar that is sure to keep 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 features 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 teenage stars like Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre will be closely followed.

A day after the final of this age-group showpiece, which has produced 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 tennis tournament 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, however, will 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 will also have something to look forward to when the AFC Women's Asian Cup kicks off on March 1 in Australia, where the national team has qualified after a long gap.

APRIL-MAY-JUNE

Two major events that will begin 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. The marquee chess tournament, featuring R. Praggnanandhaa in the Open section and R. Vaishali, Koneru Humpy, and Divya Deshmukh in the women's event, will continue until April 16, while the boxing event will conclude on April 11.

The Asian Championships for weightlifting will be held in Ahmedabad from April 1 to 10. This will be followed by 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 and run until May 10, with both the Indian men's and women's teams having qualified.

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

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

Internationally, the French Open (May), Wimbledon (June), and the FIFA World Cup (jointly hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada in June-July) will keep fans hooked.

JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER

A significantly scaled-down Commonwealth Games from July 23 to August 2 will be a major highlight, with Indian interest focused on athletics, boxing, and weightlifting.

This comes after some of India's biggest medal-yielding disciplines, such as shooting and wrestling, were dropped from the roster to ensure a tight budget.

Soon after the Games, the World Championships 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 earlier, 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, the women will have to fight for theirs during the qualifiers in March.

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

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

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

Preceding this will 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 and women's events in 2025, will have its 46th edition in Tashkent in September, though the exact dates are yet to be confirmed.

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

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

From November 1, shooters will eye Olympic quota places in the ISSF World Championships 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 in Bengaluru, is expected to return in 2026 after the superstar confirmed it would be 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.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team PV Sindhu Neeraj Chopra yearender2025 Cricket