Six of the 12 sports in which India won a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games have been axed from the 2026 edition. Sports where India managed podium finishes in Birmingham but will be omitted from the Glasgow Games are badminton, cricket, hockey, squash, table tennis and wrestling.
Some other sports in which India have raked in medals in the past editions but which were not part of Birmingham, like shooting and archery, also remain excluded from the Commonwealth Games ‘Lite’, where only 10 sports will feature due to cost-saving measures. The Games will take place from July 23 to August 2, 2026.
In a statement, Glasgow CWG organisers said the sports programme will include athletics and para-athletics, boxing, bowls and para-bowls, swimming and para-swimming, artistic gymnastics, track cycling and para-track cycling, netball, weightlifting and para-powerlifting, judo, and 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball.
It added ‘there will be around 3,000 of the best athletes competing from up to 74 Commonwealth nations and territories.’
While badminton has been played in every edition of the CWG since 1966, squash and hockey have been a part of the programme since 1998. Table Tennis has featured at every Games since 2002. The decision also marks a rare occurrence of no racquet sport being included in a multi-discipline event.
At the 2022 CWG, India won 61 medals, including 22 gold. Wrestling (12), boxing and table tennis (7 each), badminton (6), hockey and squash (2 each), and cricket (1) accounted for more than half of the medals – 37.
The rejigging of the sports programme will severely affect India’s tally, given that apart from athletics and para-athletics, boxing and weightlifting, the country does not have strong gold medal contenders.
One of the major reasons for a curtailed programme is that Glasgow stepped in as a last-minute replacement as a part of a rescue deal to ensure the CWG took place in 2026.
