Reporter | Yang Yuman
January
WTT Men's Finals January 3-5
As the annual "opening match" of table tennis, this year's WTT Doha Men's Finals can be described as star-studded. The world's top 16 men's singles players and eight men's doubles pairs will battle it out in Doha.
According to the rules, the singles champion will receive 1,500 ITTF World Ranking Points and $40,000 in prize money.
At present, a total of 7 national table tennis players have been shortlisted for the singles list, and the doubles have Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong, and Xiang Peng/Yuan Licen have also won the men's doubles qualification.
Football Asian Cup January 12 - February 10
The 18th edition of the Asian Cup 2023 is hosted by Qatar, and the organizing committee has decided to postpone the tournament, which was originally scheduled to take place from June 16 to July 16, 2023, to January 12, 2024, due to the hot summer climate in Qatar.
According to the draw principle drawn by the AFC and the Qatar Organizing Committee, the 24 participating teams were divided into four grades and six groups according to the latest world rankings released by FIFA in April this year.
According to the results of the draw, the national football team participating in the second pot will enter Group A of the host Qatar, along with Lebanon and Tajikistan.
Australian Open Tennis Championships January 14-28
The 2024 tennis season will begin in Melbourne, Australia. As the first Grand Slam tournament of the new season, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Swiatek will lead the competition.
Grand Slam champions such as Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and Kerber have also made their comebacks.
The Chinese team has 7 players in the main competition, including Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xinyu, Zhu Lin, Wang Xiyu, Yuan Yue and Bai Zhuoxuan in women's singles, and only Zhang Zhizhen in men's singles.
The Winter Youth Olympic Games will take place from 19 January to 2 February
It is the snow season, and the ice and snow projects will also usher in a grand event. On 19 January 2024, the fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games will kick off in Gangwon Province, South Korea.
The Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games will be the first Winter Youth Olympic Games to be held in Asia, with around 199 athletes from all over the world competing in seven sports and 15 sub-disciplines, competing for 81 gold medals.
Earlier, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially announced that Gu Ailing, a double champion of the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Youth Olympic Games from China, will be the global ambassador for the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Figure Skating Four Continents Championships January 30 - February 4
February
World Aquatics Championships February 2-18
The 2024 FINA World Championships Doha will be held in Doha, Qatar, and will feature swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, open water swimming and high diving.
Due to the impact of the epidemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the 20th World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, originally scheduled for July 2021, had to be postponed twice. As a result, the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, originally scheduled for November 2023, can only be postponed to 2024.
At the World Championships in Fukuoka, the Chinese swimming team won 5 golds, 3 silvers and 8 bronzes. Qin Haiyang became the biggest gold medalist of the Chinese Army, winning the men's 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke championships, and 4 of the team's 5 gold medals were related to him. In addition, Olympic champion Zhang Yufei also performed very well, winning one gold and one silver in the butterfly event.
Weightlifting Asian Championships February 3-10
58th NFL Super Bowl February 11
On February 11, local time, the much-anticipated 58th Super Bowl showdown will be staged in Las Vegas, the "Las Vegas", when the champions from the American League and the National League will have a peak showdown. This will be the first time Nevada has hosted the event, and the economic impact of the event could exceed $1 billion.
Badminton Asia Championships (team) February 13-18
Table Tennis World Championships (team) February 16-25
The Busan Table Tennis Team Championships, which was supposed to be held in 2020, were forced to cancel due to the epidemic. Four years later, Busan finally got the opportunity to host the tournament again, and it was the first time in the history of South Korea to host the World Table Tennis Team Championships.
According to the rules, the top eight teams at the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan will directly qualify for the team competition for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where multiple teams will compete fiercely.
The 14th National Winter Games February 17-27
The 14th National Winter Games will be held in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is reported that this is the largest, most projects and highest standards in the previous National Winter Games, and it is also the first large-scale national comprehensive games hosted by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
At that time, it is expected that about 3,700 ice and snow athletes will compete in 8 major events, 16 sub-events and 176 sub-events, including ice skating, skiing, biathlon, curling, ice hockey, bobsleigh, luge and ski mountaineering.
March
CBA All-Stars March 1-3
In the warm spring of March, the All-Star Weekend landed in Xiamen. The new CBA league has launched a new league slogan "In the Name of the City".
The 2023 All-Star Weekend was also held in Xiamen, when the North District Stars defeated the South Stars 117-113 in overtime, and Abdul Salamu scored 20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals to win the MVP of the All-Star Game. Currently, the 2024CBA All-Star Voting Campaign is underway.
World Indoor Athletics Championships March 1-3
World Speed Skating Championships March 7-10
World Short Track Speed Skating Championships March 15-17
World Figure Skating Championships March 18-24
April
Badminton Asian Championships (single) April 9-14
F1 Chinese Grand Prix April 19-21
According to the official 2024 calendar released by F1, the Chinese Grand Prix will be held in Shanghai from April 19 to 21, 2024.
After four years, the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, which was paused due to the epidemic, is finally back again.
China's first official F1 driver, Zhou Guanyu, is a native of Shanghai, and he is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the event when he returns to his hometown.
Tang You Cup: April 28 - May 5
The 2024 Tang You Cup will be played in Chengdu. The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup are the world's highest level men's and women's team competitions, and together with the Sudirman Cup, they are known as the three major team competitions of the BWF.
Chengdu 2024 Tang You Cup is the fourth time that the Tang You Cup has settled in China after Guangzhou in 2001, Wuhan in 2012 and Kunshan in 2016.
Diving World Cup Super Final April 19-21
ITTF Men's and Women's Singles World Cups in mid-April
The 2024 international table tennis world is particularly lively, not only waiting for the belated Busan Team World Championships, but also waiting for the return of the ITTF Men's and Women's Singles World Cup competitions.
As one of the three traditional table tennis tournaments, the Singles World Cup has been suspended for three years. At the end of the 2023 Chengdu Table Tennis Mixed Team World Cup, the ITTF announced that it will resume the men's and women's singles World Cup in April 2024 in Macau, China.
May
Ice Hockey World Championship May 10-26
Women's Volleyball World League May 14-19
The Chinese women's volleyball team will participate in Rio de Janeiro, Macau and Hong Kong, and the girls who missed the direct quota to Paris may be able to get tickets to the Paris Olympics by virtue of the world ranking after three league stops.
French Open May 26 - June 9
June
European Football Cup June 14 - July 14
The Europa continent in June will once again be ignited with football enthusiasm as the quadrennial European Football Championship takes place in Germany. With the release of the draw results, Spain, Croatia and Italy entered the "Group of Death", and the host Germany's performance has declined in recent years, and the European Championship is full of doubts.
Football Copa America June 20 - July 14
The 2024 Copa America and the European Cup "collided", with the expansion of the team to 16, Messi's strong entry to disrupt the war, and the results of this Copa America are also full of suspense.
Tour de France Road Race June 29 - July 21
July
Wimbledon July 1-14
Paris Olympics July 26 - August 11
The "highlight" of sports in 2024 is undoubtedly the Olympic Games. As a world sports event held every four years, its influence is self-evident.
For the host country, Paris, in particular, the city will last host the Olympic Games in 1924, and after a century-long absence, the Olympic flame will be lit again in the "City of Romance".
There are 32 major events and 329 minor events in this Olympic Games. According to the General Administration of Sports of China, as of December 28, 2023, the mainland has qualified for the Olympic Games in 142 events, and the Olympic events have won 35 gold medals in the world competitions throughout the year, second only to the United States team.
August
U.S. Open Tennis Championships August 26-September 8
Considering that 2024 is an Olympic year, there are not many competitions scheduled by multiple associations in August. The U.S. Open, the final of tennis' four Grand Slam tournaments, is scheduled to start after the Olympics.
Paris Paralympic Games 28 August – 8 September
September
China Open Badminton Championships September 17-22
Entering the golden autumn season in September, the Chinese sports world is also "fruitful", and the heavyweight competitions of many events will be settled in China one after another. The China Open Badminton Championships will be played first in Changzhou.
China Open Tennis Championships September 25-October 6
Along with the National Day Golden Week, there is also a Chinese season in professional tennis. At that time, high-level events such as the China Open Tennis Championship and the Shanghai Tennis Masters will set off an annual "tennis fever" in China.
October
Shanghai Tennis Masters October 2-13
Swimming World Cup Shanghai Station October 18-20
November
WTA Finals November 3-10
ATP Finals November 10-17
According to the 2024 season schedule officially announced by the ATP. The ATP Tour will host a total of 63 tournaments in 29 countries, with several tournaments in Chengdu, Zhuhai, Beijing and Shanghai during the Chinese season. In addition, the year will end in Turin, Italy, with a tennis showdown.
BWF China Masters November 19-24
Speed Skating World Cup Beijing November 29-December 1
ITTF Mixed Team World Cup November (exact time to be confirmed)
On August 26, 2023, Chengdu Wuhou District and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) reached a cooperation to hold a total of 5 table tennis mixed team World Cup competitions from 2023 to 2027 in Chengdu.
On December 10, 2023, Beijing time, the first Chengdu Mixed Team World Cup came to an end, and the Chinese team won the championship trophy with nine wins. In the next four years, a number of national teams will continue to gather in "Chengdu" to experience the unique charm brought by the mixed team competition system.
December
Short Track Speed Skating World Cup Beijing Station December 6-8
BWF Tour Finals December 11-15