Six of the 12 games in which India won a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games were dropped from the 2026 edition. The Games where India dominates the field ends in Birmingham but will be excluded from the Glasgow Games in badminton, cricket, hockey, squash, table tennis and wrestling.
Other sports where India has won medals in previous editions but were not part of Birmingham, such as shooting and archery, have also been excluded from the Commonwealth Games ‘Lite’, where only 10 sports will appear due to austerity measures. . The games will be held from July 23 to August 2, 2026.
In a statement, Glasgow CWG organizers said the sports program 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.
It added that ‘there will be around 3,000 of the best athletes competing from 74 Commonwealth countries and territories.’
While badminton has been played throughout the CWG schedule since 1966, squash and hockey have been part of the schedule since 1998. Table Tennis has been featured in all sports since 2002. in a multi-disciplinary event.
In the 2022 CWG, India won 61 medals, including 22 golds. 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 rescheduling of the sports program will seriously affect India’s statistics, given that apart from athletics and athletics, boxing and weightlifting, the country has no solid gold medals.
One of the main reasons for the reduced schedule is that Glasgow stepped in at the last minute as part of a bailout deal to ensure the CWG takes place in 2026.