Massive blow for India as wrestling, field hockey, badminton, cricket, table tennis removed from CWG 2026

New Delhi: In a massive blow to India’s medal chances, cricket, field hockey, badminton, wrestling among others have been dropped from the programme for Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, which will be held from July 23 to August 2, 2026.

The sporting event’s return to the Scottish city after 12 events would not be as bright for the Indians as some of their best medal-scoring sports have been removed from the schedule. The CWG 2026 will be featuring only 10 sports across four venues placed within an eight-mile corridor, organisers Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced on Tuesday, as per Olympics.com.

The 10-sport itinerary for Glasgow 2026 includes athletics (track and field), swimming, 3×3 basketball, track cycling, weightlifting, lawn bowls, artistic gymnastics, netball, boxing, and judo, The para variants of the first five will be part of the integrated para programme at the 2026 CWG.

Four venues will be hosting the game, including Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Emirates Arena – including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).

The list of sports for 2026 CWG is way more thinner than the 2022 edition in Birmingham, which had 20 sports. The sports excluded include hockey, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis, diving, rugby sevens, beach volleyball, mountain biking, squash, and rhythmic gymnastics.

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Shooting, which was earlier removed from the Birmingham 2022 CWG programme, is still not reinstated in the schedule.

Shooting and wrestling have been dominant sports for India at CWG since its inception, having won 135 and 114 medals, including 63 and 49 gold medals respectively. In the last edition, India won 12 medals in wrestling, including six gold, a silver, and five bronze medals.

Field hockey’s exclusion means the sport will be missing from the event for the first time since its CWG debut back in 1998. With a total of six medals shared between men’s and women’s team, including a gold, four silver, and a bronze, India is the second-most successful field-hockey side in CWG behind Australia.

India also has a stellar record in badminton, table tennis, and squash at the CWG, having won 31 medals (including 10 gold), 28 medals (including 10 gold), and five medals (including a gold) across all editions of the competitions in which they were played.

(ANI)