NEW DELHI: In a major blow to India‘s medal chances at the Commonwealth Gamesthe organisers of the 2026 edition of the multisport event in Glasgow on Monday confirmed the exclusion of hockeybadminton, table tennis, shooting and wrestling among prominent sports from the Games’ programme. Women’s cricket – which had made its debut in a T20 format in 2022 Birmingham CWG where India won silver after losing the final to Australia – and squash have also been dropped.
The Birmingham edition had featured 19 sports. For Glasgow, just 10 sports disciplines have been picked – athletics and para-athletics (track & field), swimming and para-swimming, artistic gymnastics, track cycling and para track cycling, netball, weightlifting and para powerlifting, boxing, judo, bowls and para bowls and 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball.
At the 2022 CWG, India had won 61 medals, including 22 gold. Wrestling (12), weightlifting (10), athletics (8), boxing and table tennis (7 each) contributed the most to the overall tally.
The 23rd edition of the CWG will take place in Scotland from July 23 to Aug 2, returning to the city 12 years after the successful conduct of the 2014 edition. The Games will take place across four venues – Scotstoun stadium, Tollcross International swimming centre, Emirates arena – including the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, and the Scottish Event Campus (SEC). Athletes and support staff will be housed in hotel accommodation.
The Australian state of Victoria was originally scheduled to host the 2026 CWG but it pulled out due to a significant increase in the projected costs. As a result, the Victorian government had to pay a compensation of 380 million Australian dollars (approximately $256 million) to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). Glasgow later agreed to host a “scaled down” Games.
Hockey remained a part of the CWG since 1998 and India have been the second-best team in CWG history with the men and women’s teams securing six medals – including one gold, four silver and a bronze. In Birmingham, Indian men finished second while the women settled for bronze.
The country has traditionally been a powerhouse in shooting events at the CWG bagging 135 medals, including 63 gold over all editions. Though there was no shooting in Birmingham CWG, in the previous edition in 2018, India had a rich haul – 17 medals, the most by any country in that edition. It included four gold, nine silver and four bronze.
India will miss out on wrestling as they have been a dominating force at the Games over the years. The country has won 114 medals in wrestling in the Games so far with 49 gold, 39 silver and 26 bronze. Their tally included 12 medals from the Birmingham CWG which included six gold.
In badminton, India won a remarkable six medals in Birmingham, including three gold: PV Sindhu in women’s singles, Lakshya Sen in men’s singles and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles. India’s performance in badminton at the previous CWG edition was historic as the nation topped the rankings table for the first time, ahead of Malaysia and England.
Table Tennis was introduced in CWG in 2002. Since then, India have won medals in the sport in every edition. The country has a total of 20 medals in TT at the quadrennial event.
During CGF president Chris Jenkins and CGF CEO Katie Sadleir’s recent visit to India last month, the govt had lodged a strong protest over the proposed exclusion of prominent sports from the Glasgow Games programme.
