The year 2020 was a tough year for many of us. We missed out on a lot of things in the year due to the pandemic. Not only were we under a lot of stress but also all the sources of entertainment were reduced. The sports section that we eagerly wait for in the newspapers was small and vague and we didn’t have anything major to look up to or get excited for. The one thing we have learnt from sports is that nothing is certain and anything and everything is possible. This is the one lesson that could be used in our life situation this year. The annual sports matches was one out of the other things that we used to be eager about. Even though you did not like playing sports, watching the teams play would be fun.
Now that everything is slowly coming back to normal we will be able to enjoy our lives as earlier. Below are the major sports events which were postponed in the year 2020 but are scheduled in 2021 for which we could be excited about once again.
Handball World Championship
The World Men’s Handball Championship for the year 2021 has been organized by the International Handball Federation which has been there since 1938. This year the game will be indoors due to the pandemic as the situation is not yet tackled completely. Till the games that have been played until now, France is the most successful one by earning six titles. The team’s just behind them are Romania and Sweden, both of them have four titles each. In 2019 the title was won by Denmark. The dates for this year are from 13 – 31 January and this event will take place in Egypt.
X Games
Yes, this would feel a little weird and might sound unusual but since 1995 the annual extreme sports are hosted, broadcasted and produced by ESPN. The first inaugural games were held during the summer in Newport and Providence in Rhode Island. The participants for these games compete for Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. Along with this they also get a cash prize. This year they will be held from January 29 – 31, in Aspen, Colorado.
FIFA World Cup
Along with the other sports FIFA is something that everyone one eagerly waits for. In 2020 the matches were postponed and moved to early 2021. This year it will be the 18th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. They will be starting from 4th February and will last till 11th February. This year these games will be hosted in Qatar and the opening matches would also be between Al Duhail, the Qatari Champions and Auckland City of New Zealand.
Rugby
The guide and headlines for the Six Nations Championship are out and everyone is excited. France, Ireland, Italy, England and Scotland will be competing to win the crown. These tournaments will begin in the first week of February which is from 6th February and go up until 20th March. The locations would be France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Football Super Bowl
We have waited for long now and matches like these are which we wait for to watch with our friends and get back together. It will also give you some time with your loved ones from which you were away for too long. This year will be the 55th Super Bowl championship game. This year, three milestones will be crossed by the tournaments. First, the games will be scheduled during the pandemic with all the important measures obtained, Second, this year will be the fourth consecutive year to be hosting the matches in Florida. The third milestone is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be playing the Super Bowl in their own stadium and this has never occurred before.
The matches will start from 7th February and will be held in Raymond James Stadium, Tampa.
Tennis
The wait is finally over and it is not too long from now that we will be able to watch all those matches we were eagerly waiting for. The 2021 professional Tennis will be organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The dates are out, they are starting from February 8th and will go on till 21st February. They will be held in Melbourne, Australia.
Skiing
The Ski Championship for the year 2021 is planned for 8 – 21 February. Last year the Italian Winter Sports Federation had to postpone the event due to Covid-19. Cortina has already hosted events for the world championship in 1932 and 1956. This city is selected because it is the only applicant that has been the finalist for the previous two championship tournaments.
The location would be Cortina d’ Ampezzo, Italy. So sit tight and wait till we go Downhill.
Sailing
This year will be the 36th America’s Cup for the America’s Cup Yacht Race. These tournaments will be contested by the Te Rehutai, it will be sailed by Emirates Team New Zealand. The defending club for the tournament will be the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. They are the ones who will organize the matches for this year. The tournaments will start from 6th March till 21st March and will be held in Waitemata Harbour, New Zealand.
Baseball
The WBC has been expanded and this year it will accommodate 20 national teams as earlier in 2017 there were only 16 teams for the tournament. The World Baseball Classic is a professional baseball tournament. In the year 2020, the WBC had announced that the teams that had earlier participated in the year 2017 will be directly qualified for the upcoming tournaments. The other four teams were to be selected in the year 2020 as the matches were scheduled in Tucson, Arizona. But on 12th March the selection process was postponed. So in the year 2021, the qualification process will start from 9th March till 23rd March. They will be held in Taiwan, Japan, USA.
Golf
The PGA has announced the dates for this year’s matches. This year there will be a net increase of one tournament from the earlier tournaments. The matches that were postponed in the year 2020 will be rescheduled for this year. Everyone is excited to watch the super season. One of the commissioners has mentioned that this year’s matches would be a significant event and will be better than the previous ones. Though there are a lot of challenges they have to face due to the pandemic. The dates are out and looking good which means we wouldn’t have to wait for long as they will start in April, starting from 8th to 11th of April. The location we have to look out for the matches is Augusta, Georgia, USA.
The Bottom line
The wait is over and we will again be able to enjoy the sports events we were waiting for. There was no source of excitement in the year 2020 because of the postponed games and the pandemic. The above games are the major tournaments which you can now look forward to. The dates are up and have lower chances of being cancelled now.