31 July - 6 August
This week the FIFA Women's World Cup will complete the final group matches up to Thursday. With Friday as a break, the Round of 16 will begin on Saturday. The final of the Netball World Cup is on Sunday. Wrestling takes centre stage in Istanbul from Monday with the U17 World Championships. With other World Sailing Championships still in completion, we have two new competitions starting on Monday. Tampere in Finland hosts the 2.4MR World Championships, while the 12MR World Championship features in Newport, Rhode Island.
Six World Air Sports Federation championships begin over the next few days specifically for model aircraft enthusiasts. Turda in Romania hosts two competitions dedicated to model gliders. Pylon model aircraft racers will be heading to Drachten in the Netherlands, while Włocławek in Poland is all set to welcome the World Cup for Control Line Aircraft. Liepāja in Latvia hosts the International Space Modelling contest. Rounding off the model aircraft events, we head to Muncie in Indiana for the World Championships for Model Helicopters. On Sunday two hang gliding competitions begin in Krushevo, North Macedonia. These are in Class 1 and Class 5.
While chess is currently the centre of attention in Baku with the Men's and Women's World Cups, further mind sport competitions will also be contested this week. Veldhoven in the Netherlands hosts the Bridge 18th World Youth Teams Championships. Renju is board game that is a version of the Japanese game Go-Moku. Istanbul will from Wednesday begin a series of World Championships, while World School Teams head to Aktau in Kazakhstan, located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, for another chess tournament.
Osijek in Croatia and Szeged in Hungary, share the duties of hosting the Girls' U19 Volleyball World Championship. The Boys' U19 event heads to San Juan in Argentina. Bern in Switzerland has been chosen to host the biggest event in Sport Climbing. The World Championships include categories for Boulder, Lead, and Speed. Equestrian fans will be looking out for the Mounted Games World Individuals Championship to be held at Domaine Equestre De La Bonde, a riding school near Saint-Denis-le-Ferment, France.
After a long period of worldwide regional qualifications, the finals of the Crossfit Games are here. Madison in Wisconsin begins the quest from Tuesday to crown the 2023 champions. After the completion of the World Aquatics World Championship earlier in Japan today, it is the turn of the Masters. It will again be held in Japan across the cities of Fukuoka, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima. With Mixed Martial Arts growing substantially in various professional leagues, the next generation are in Abu Dhabi for the IMMAF Youth MMA World Championships.
Round two of the Orienteering World Cup moves to Česká Lípa, the most populated Czech town without a city status. Croatia is set to host the IHF U19 Handball World Championship starting on Wednesday. Racketlon is a sport which competitors play a sequence of the four most popular racket sports: table tennis, badminton, squash, and tennis. Rotterdam is the city for the FIR Teams & Singles Championships. With several youth competitions this week, Paris is the location for the World Rowing U19 Championships.
Glasgow has been selected for the biggest event in cycling. The UCI Cycling World Championships begin proceedings with Para-cycling Track on Wednesday. Thursday is the start of Track and Mountain Bike Downhill. We follow that across Scotland on Friday with the Gran Fondo, and the Road World Championships on Saturday. BMX Freestyle and Parkland also begin on Saturday, with Sunday reserved for the BMX Challenge and the Mountain Bike Cross-Country Marathon.
Tag is a sport with similarities to rugby league and touch football, although it is considered closer to full contact rugby. The University of Limerick in Ireland hosts the Tag World Cup from Wednesday. Fortaleza is the capital of the north-eastern Brazilian state of Ceará. Normally very popular for water sports, on this occasion International Beach Tennis presents the Beach Tennis World Championships from Wednesday. Motor sport fans can look out for Rally Finland starting on Thursday. The Suzuka 8 Hours at the Suzuka Circuit is the next round of the FIM Endurance World Championship. Silverstone in England will also light up from Friday with the next round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship. Over the weekend, the World RX of Benelux in Mettet, Belgium, makes up round 6 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Rone IP on the Swedish island of Gotland hosts the Kubb World Championships. The sport can best be described as a combination of bowling and horseshoes, with the game pieces made of wood. Similar sports include Mölkky from Finland and Jukskei from South Africa. Ávila is located northeast of Madrid. From Thursday the best clay pigeon shooters will descend on the town for the 41st World Championship. Senior trampoline gymnastics experts will contest the FIG World Cup in Palm Springs, Florida.
Remaining in the States and on this occasion the terrain near Breckenridge, Colorado, the next A1 World Cup Adventure Series begins the North American edition from Thursday. South Korea's Goyang-si hosts the International Dance Organization World Dance Festival for four days starting from Friday. The second major World Aquatics event this week features in Berlin where the Diving World Cup 2023 contests the Super Final. Making a change from the Marathon Swim World Series of 2022, this year's Meeting 4 will take place in the Seine River.
Despite question marks being raised over the financial feasibility of the Common Wealth Games, we do have the Common Wealth Youth Games this week in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Over the weekend, elite triathletes will be in Yeongdo, South Korea, for the World Triathlon Cup. Finally, the city of Norwich in England hosts the 13th World Thumb Wrestling Championships on Saturday.
Until next time, have a great week in sport.