The UK will today kick off the ‘India-UK Week of Sport’ to celebrate the incredible living bridge between both nations in India’s 75th year of Independence
From 21 to 27 February, a series of on- and off-the-field interactions will highlight the shared love of sport and the opportunities it can create for people across both nations.
The Week of Sport will showcase the best of sport with events involving Indian and British personalities reflecting on their own journeys. It will include Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, cricketer Dinesh Karthik, para-badminton World Champion Manasi Joshi, tennis legend Vijay Amritraj and India rugby captain Vahbiz Bharucha among others.
Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, said:
The UK and India share a love for sports. Cricket, football, tennis, badminton, and hockey bring us together. The Week of Sport is a celebration of this bond and our living bridge. I look forward to more activities this year as India celebrates 75 years of Independence and the UK hosts the Commonwealth Games and the final match of the Test series.
This week’s activity leads up to ‘India-UK Together 2022’ initiative. The joint initiative, led by the British Council and the Indian Council for Cultural relations, will launch later this year. It will celebrate the unique connections that can help shape the future of both nations through a diverse programme of activities – highlighting the strong cultural links between Britons and Indians – across sport, education, the arts, and much more.
As two great democracies, both India and the UK share a vision to empower the next generation of leaders.
Further Information
The India-UK Week of Sport is being celebrated from 21 to 27 February with both on- and off-the-field activities across themes highlighting diversity in sports, including cricket, hockey, football, track and field, racquet sports and rugby. Follow the celebration online on @UKinIndia. Join the conversation and share your favourite India-UK sporting memories on Twitter with #IndiaUKTogether.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from 28 July to 8 August 2022 and will be the first major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.
Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson have made an historic commitment to strengthen work between the UK and India over the next decade with the 2030 Roadmap for future relations.
The UK and India benefit from a unique ‘Living Bridge’ of people, ideas, institutions, arts and culture – that sits separate to the government-to-government relationship. The UK is home to a vibrant Indian diaspora of more than 1.6 million and has its largest overseas diplomatic network anywhere in the world right here in India.