The daily schedule for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been released, with organisers confirming which sports will be held on each of the 11 days of competition as planning for the Games accelerates.

The first day of competition is packed with action and is set to feature 14 different sports. This includes Basketball 3×3 at the recently announced venue at Smithfield in the centre of Birmingham, Artistic Gymnastics at Arena Birmingham, and hockey and squash, which will take place at the University of Birmingham, unveiled last month as a major partner for the Games.

Women’s cricket T20, added to the programme in August last year, will be also begin at Edgbaston Stadium on Friday 29 July and the aquatics programme will start on the same day with the swimmers getting the action underway at the brand new Sandwell Aquatics Centre, which is currently under construction in Smethwick.

Netball, which will see Team England defending the gold medal they won in dramatic fashion against Australia on the Gold Coast in 2018, also begins at the NEC Arena on the first day of competition, with the final being held on Sunday 7 August.

The Games, the largest sports event to be held in UK since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, will feature 19 sports, with eight para sports integrated into the programme, creating the biggest para sports offering in Commonwealth Games history.

Following the changes to the international sports calendar following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and subsequent changes to the world championships schedules in many sport, the dates of the Games changed by one day, meaning there now be two full weekends of competition in Birmingham, a move which is hoped will allow more than one million spectators to attend the biggest sporting event ever to be held in the West Midlands.

Birmingham 2022’s Chief Executive Officer, Ian Reid, said the organisers had worked closely with the international governing bodies across a range of sport to accommodate the packed schedule of events in 2022.

The main athletics programme at the redeveloped Alexander Stadium in the Perry Barr area of the city, won’t begin until day five of the competition on 2 August, therefore allowing additional recovery time for athletes who are also planning to compete at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, which takes place earlier in the summer.

The track and field action will take place across six days with the number of sessions yet to be finalised. The marathon will be held earlier in the programme on 30 July, with the location of the start and finish and the route expected to be confirmed in 2021.

The latest venues to be unveiled for the Games, West Park in Wolverhampton and St Nicholas Park in Warwick, will host the road cycling events on Thursday 4 August and Sunday 7 August, where as another stunning park in the region, Sutton Park in Birmingham, will host the triathlon competition on day one (29 July 2022) and day three (31 July 2022).

Coventry Stadium, which is set to host three sports, rugby sevens, judo and wrestling has a packed agenda, as it will see sports action on eight out of 11 days of competition and the NEC will be even busier, with badminton and table tennis, two of the four sports occupying halls at the exhibition centre, featuring on every single day of the Games.

The closing ceremony for the Games will also be held on Monday 8 August 2022.

A more detailed version of the schedule, to include a session by session breakdown, will be unveiled in the coming months.

Commonwealth Games Australia is planning to send one of its largest teams to compete in an away campaign with an expected team size of 425 athletes across 19 sports, including the recently introduced women’s T20 cricket.

The largest team for an away Commonwealth Games is 409 athletes in Glasgow in 2014.

Australia was represented by 473 athletes on the Gold Coast with the team topping the medal tally with 80 gold, 59 silver and 59 bronze medals.

Birmingham 2022 is set for the largest-ever female and para-sport programme in history with women’s T20 cricket, beach volleyball and Para-table tennis joining the existing sports including aquatics (swimming, Para-swimming and diving), athletics and Para-athletics, badminton, basketball 3×3 and wheelchair basketball 3×3, boxing, cycling (mountain, road, track and Para-track), gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic), hockey, judo, lawn bowls and Para-bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon and Para-triathlon, weightlifting and Para-powerlifting and wrestling.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from 28 July to 8 August.

To find out more, visit www.birmingham2022.com where you can also sign-up to receive the latest updates about the Games and hear about tickets and volunteer opportunities first.

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