5 biggest sporting events of 2018

2018 is not an usual year as it promises to be an extravaganza for sports lovers. It is a year packed with big sporting events making it one of the best sporting calendar years in the 21st century.

From multi-sport events to the World Cup tournament, 2018 has everything in its bag. The year is full of action for sports enthusiasts and it will be a year in which records will be broken and history will be re-written.

Here are 5 big sporting events which promise to make 2018 a treat:

#5 Winter Olympics 2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea

Venues and townscape ahead of Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics

The first winter Olympics took place in Chamonix, France, in 1924 and this year, winter games are scheduled to take place from February 9 to 25 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The city beat Munich and Annecy to win the bid to host the event.

The event will feature 102 events in 15 sports, 4 new disciplines are included this time so athletes will now be able to compete in new events like big air snowboarding, mas-start speed skating, mixed team alpine skiing and mixed doubles curling.

Athletes from 89 countries will participate in the gala event while athletes from Russia will perform under the IOC flag because due to the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee for doping offences.

Countries like Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia and Singapore are scheduled to make their Winter Olympics debut which makes the event special.

#4 Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast, Australia

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games ambassador announcement

Another Commonwealth edition with ever increasing intense competition among Commonwealth nations including big guns like Australia, Canada, England and rising countries like India.

Athletes from 70 countries will participate in 275 events in 18 sports.

Gold Coast won more votes than Hambantota, Sri Lanka to win the hosting rights. An Australian city will host the event for 5th time and the event will be held from 4th to 15th April.

In 2014 at Glasgow, England topped the medals table with 58 gold medals followed by Australia and Canada. This time Australia will look to reclaim the top spot and it would be interesting to track countries like India and Scotland which have also done well in past editions.

#3 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia

2018 FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia

The most popular event of the year, the FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia from 14th June to 15th July.

For the first time in history, all 209 countries participated in qualification and 31 countries qualified.

Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, Panama became the smallest country by population to qualify for the world cup.

Four times champion Italy and 2014’s third-placed team and the Netherlands failed to qualify for the world cup 2018.

Defending Champions Germany and Brazil are considered favourites but it promises to be one of the most open tournaments in recent times.

#2 Asian Games 2018, Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia

Asian games 2018 promises to be exciting

Another multi-sport event lined up in 2018 which will raise the temperature in Asia will be when Asian powers will compete in the 18th Asian Games from 18th August to 2nd September.

Countries from all over Asia will compete in 462 events in 40 sports making it bigger than any other multi-sport event in 2018.

The first Asian Games was hosted by New Delhi, India in 1951 where 11 nations participated in 57 events.

China led the medals table in 2014 Asian games followed by South Korea and Japan.

#1 Hockey World Cup 2018, India

India will look to use home advantage to the fullest in the 2018 World Cup

16 best teams from around the world will lock horns to become world champions in India from 28th November to 16th December. India is hosting the event for the 3rd time.

The Netherlands and Australia are the favourites but India, the home team will look to use home advantage to end the 40 years wait for the World Cup trophy which they won back in 1975. China will make their debut in the tournament. This marquee event will be a treat for hockey lovers around the world.