On 22nd October 2024, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced that wrestling, badminton, hockey, cricket and shooting, among other major sports, have been dropped from the Commonwealth Games 2026 (CWG 2026).The 23rd edition of CWG is scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland from 23rd July, 2026 to 2nd August, 2026.
- The excluded sports for CWG 2026 are hockey, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis (TT), diving, rugby sevens, beach volleyball, mountain biking, squash and rhythmic gymnastics.
- With this, total number of sport events has reduced to 10 compared to 19 sports events at the 2022 Birmingham CWG.
Note: Glasgow(Scotland) is set to host the Commonwealth Games again, 12 years after it last hosted them in 2014.
Key Points:
i.CWG 2026 will now feature 10 sports including: 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.
ii.These sports events will take place across 4 venues in Glasgow: Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Emirates Arena, including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and the Scottish Event Campus.
Setback for India:
i.This announcement came as a setback for Indian sports fraternity as 6 of the 12 disciplines in which India won a medal at 2022 CWG, contributing 37 out of 61 medals (including 22 gold, 16 silver, 23 bronze), have been excluded from 2026 edition.
ii.India had won 12 medals in wrestling (including 6 gold, one silver and 5 bronze medals), 7 in TT (including 4 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals), 6 in Badminton (3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze medals), 2 in Hockey (silver and gold), one in cricket (silver) at the 2022 CWG held in Birmingham of the United Kingdom (UK), .
India’s Performance at CWG:
i.India’s All-Time CWG Medal Tally – India is ranked 4th at the All-time CWG medal tally, with an overall total of 564 medals which include 203 gold, 190 silver and 171 bronze medals.
ii.Hockey – So far, Indian men’s hockey team has won 3 silver and 2 bronze medals, while the women’s hockey team has won 3 medals including a historic gold medal in 2002 GWG.
iii.Badminton- Overall India has won an impressive 31 medals in Badminton, including 10 gold, 8 silver, and 13 bronze medals.
iv.Shooting & Table Tennis- India has won maximum medals in shooting i.e. 135 medals (including 63 gold, 44 silver, and 28 bronze medals), followed by TT (28 medals) and Squash (5 medals).
v.Cricket – It was reintroduced in 2022 CWG and Indian women’s team claimed a Silver medal.
About Commonwealth Games:
i.It is a quadrennial international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The 1st CWG was held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
ii.India hosted the CWG for the 1st time in 2010 in New Delhi, Delhi and won total 101 medals, which is the India’s best performance at the games to date.
iii.So far, Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games 5 times i.e. in 1938, 1962, 1982, 2006 and 2018.
About Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF):
President- Dame Louise Martin
Headquarters- London, the United Kingdom (UK)
Established- 1932
