Neeraj Chopra, Dinesh Karthik among athletes celebrating India-UK Week of Sport

The United Kingdom will on Monday kick off the ‘India-UK Week of Sport’ to celebrate the incredible living bridge between both nations in India’s 75th year of Independence, the British High Commission in New Delhi said.

New Delhi: The United Kingdom will on Monday kick off the ‘India-UK Week of Sport’ to celebrate the incredible living bridge between both nations in India’s 75th year of Independence, the British High Commission in New Delhi said.

Between February 21 and 27, 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 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, said the British high commission, New Delhi in a statement.

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 the ‘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 program of activities – highlighting the strong cultural links between the two countries – across sport, education, the arts, and much more.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from July 28 to August 8, 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 a historic commitment to strengthening work between the UK and India over the next decade with the 2030 Roadmap for future relations.