Wicked start to the week absorbing international sport (9)
I believe the answer is:
badminton
'sport' is the definition.
(badminton is a kind of sport)
'wicked start to' is the wordplay.
'wicked' becomes 'bad' (similar in meaning).
'start to' becomes 'minton' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bad'+'minton'='BADMINTON'
'the week absorbing international' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for badminton that I've seen before include "22 Across sport" , "Game played with rackets" , "in which rackets are involved" , "Racket sport" , "Racquet sport" .)