Hockey to wrestling, CWG drops 9 sports, dents India’s medal hopes

The 2026 edition, featuring only 10 sports and roughly 3,000 athletes, will take place from July 23 to August 2. Glasgow will be CWG ‘lite’ since the previous edition in Birmingham had 19 sports and almost 5,000 athletes.

In a statement, the 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, 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball.

The decision was met with fierce backlash from India’s sporting administrators. Former CWG medallist and Indian Olympic Association executive council member Gagan Narang said the move was “disheartening”.

“I can imagine the disappointment for (the) shooters who were preparing for this event. I am also disappointed that (a) few more disciplines which are medal prospects for India don’t figure in the list of disciplines for CWG 2026,” Narang said.

Badminton legend and national coach Pullela Gopichand said he was “deeply appalled and disappointed by the decision”.

“It is crucial that we raise our voices and bring this issue to the appropriate authorities to ensure badminton continues to thrive and inspire future generations. We cannot allow such shortsighted decisions to undermine the progress we have tirelessly achieved,” he said.

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.

Incidentally, shooting was included in the initial programme announced by Victoria, before they surrendered their hosting rights due to high costs. Glasgow stepped in as a last-minute replacement and dropped a number of events to keep the Games within budget.

Originally, the Australian state was scheduled to host the 2026 edition before it pulled out citing huge costs. With Glasgow operating on an extremely tight budget, the organisers chose to restrict the Games to just four venues. In a way, the Glasgow CWG will also set a new trend, wherein the sports programme has been finalised based on the venues available rather than choosing the sports first and then building a venue.

The organisers said they will use four venues within an 8-mile radius in Glasgow to save on transport and security, among other things. Athletes and support staff will be housed in hotels instead of a dedicated Games Village to further save costs.