The Ministry of Sports has released the National Sports Calendar for 2023 covering all national and international events which will see Sri Lankan participation.
One of the biggest international sports events for Sri Lanka in the new year will be the Asian Games, which has been scheduled for September in China. The 14th South Asian Games will be held in March hosted by Pakistan.
Special Olympics World Games has been scheduled to be held in June while Commonwealth Youth Games will be staged in August. Meanwhile, the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games has been scheduled to be held in November.
National Sports competition organized by Ministry of Sports, has been scheduled to be held from January to April while the 35th National Youth Sports competition will also be held this year. The games in divisional secretariats will be held from January to March while the district level events will be held from May to 15th June. The final events of the National Youth Sports competition (Athletics) has been scheduled to be held in the last two weeks in September.
Cricket
Sri Lanka Women’s cricketers will be playing in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup next month in South Africa. The national and local women’s cricketers will participate in several domestic competitions including the women’s provincial tournament.
2023 will be a busy year for National Men’s cricket team where their main target will the ICC ODI World Cup which will be held in India in October. The defending Asian champions will also participate in the Asia Cup which has been scheduled to be held in September in Pakistan.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has organized the National Super League 4-Day and One Day competitions from January to April while the 4th edition of Lanka Premier League has been scheduled to be held in September.
Rugby
Sri Lanka Rugby team is expected to be participating in South Asian Games in March and Asian Games in September. In the domestic circuit, the Inter-Club Rugby competition will be the major event for local men’s rugby players. The women’s rugby players will be busy with Women’s 10-A-Side Rugby League which will be held this month.
Apart from them, Inter-Club Emerging Tournament and Division 2 competition have been scheduled for this year. Women’s 15-A-Side knockout tournament and Men’s Clifford Cup knockout rugby tournament will also be major events of Sri Lanka’s Rugby calendar for 2023.
Volleyball
Sri Lanka Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams are set to participate in several championship events in the Asian region this year. The first event Sri Lanka will be eyeing will be the inaugural U16 Asian Volleyball championship which will be held in China.
Sri Lanka Men’s Volleyball team will participate in the 22nd Asian Volleyball Championship in August which will be hosted by Iran while the Women’s team will take part in Women’s Asian Volleyball Championship which will be held in September in Thailand.
The 19th Asian Beach Volleyball Championship has been scheduled to be held in September in China while South Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in both Men’s and Women’s categories will be held this year, but the dates are not confirmed for the two events yet.
In domestic volleyball calendar, the major event will be the Munchee National Volleyball Championship as usual. The Sri Lanka Volleyball Association has decided to conduct the tournament from 01st to 31st March. In addition, the DSI Schools Volleyball Championship has been scheduled to be held from April to July.
Athletics
Sri Lankan Athletes will have a busy year ahead in 2023 as there will be several major international events happening this year, the South Asian Games (March), Asian Athletics Championship (July) and Asian Games (September) and World Athletics Championship (August).
Apart from them, Asian Youth Athletics Championship and Junior Athletics Championship have been scheduled to be held in April and June respectively.
In the domestic athletics calendar, the major event will be the 101st National Athletics Championship which has been scheduled to be held in May. Sri Lanka Athletics Association has also planned to conduct a Sri Lanka Grand Prix competition in August.
Netball
Netball World Cup which will be held in South Africa will be the major event Sri Lankan Netballers will target this year. The tournament will be held from the 28th July to 06th August.
Under 16 South Asian Netball Championship (May) and South Asian Men’s Netball Championship which will be hosted by Sri Lanka have been also scheduled to be held this year.
National Netball Championship (January), Junior National Netball Championship (October) and Netball Super League (November) will be the major events organized by Sri Lanka Netball Association for 2023 in domestic circuit.
