Sport fields and stadiums have been lacking action, thanks to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Even the highly awaited Tokyo Olympics and T20 World Cup, among others, had to be officially postponed by one year because of COVID-19. Although many games have picked up over the last few months, it was nowhere near to a normal year of back-to-back sports.
However, 2021 does not seem to be the same as last year. Many sports personalities have been eagerly waiting to get back to the field, and this year gives hope. Let us look at some of the important events this year where we can witness Indian sports women in action.
Badminton
The badminton courts will be active now, with three upcoming tournaments in Bangkok, including the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals. The Indian team, consisting of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy, will begin their campaign with Yonex Thailand Open from January 12-17.
This will be followed by tournaments across different Asian countries including Malaysia and Singapore as well as global tournaments like French open.
Also Read: PV Sindhu only Indian among world’s 15 highest paid female athletes
Hockey
The Indian women's hockey team will tour Argentina in January to get into competition mode ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. A contingent of 25 players and seven support staff will leave for South America on January 3. Following this will be the Asian Champions Trophy, South Korea in April for women where the teams from India, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia will compete with each other.
Cricket
Indian women's cricket team will soon get to make a comeback on the field after almost a year. (While the men got onto the field last year, the women counterparts could not.)
As per media reports, the BCCI is working towards lining up international tournaments for women's cricket team beginning March 2021. The reports suggest that India will begin the game this year in a limited-overs assignment against Sri Lanka.
Chess
The International Chess Federation announced the final stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix will be held on January 17-29, 2021 in Gibraltar. The fourth and final leg of the Women's Grand Prix was supposed to be held on May 2-15, 2020 in Italy, but got delayed due to the pandemic. The tournament will see Indians Humpy Koneru and Dronavalli Harika in action.
Also Read: Humpy Koneru’s Mantra for Navigating Passion and Motherhood: Be Present in the Moment
Multisport
The most awaited and important event - Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is slated to start from July 2021. The event that was postponed due to COVID-19 will take place between July 23rd and August 8th. It will feature 33 competitions and 339 events held across 42 venues. This will be followed by Summer Paralympics in August.
(Edited by Athira Nair)
