The 2026 edition of Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be without a lot of sports in which India are serious medal contenders. Only 10 sports will take place across four venues, down from 19 in Birmingham in 2022. In terms of medal-haul, a trimmed CWG26 – due to cost-cutting – is a big blow for India, as sports like badminton, hockey, squash, table tennis, cricket and wrestling are off the roster. India will now have to focus mainly on athletics, boxing and weightlifting.
India had sent 210 athletes at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Out of them 98 athletes took part in sports that have now been dropped. A greatly reduced squad is expected to be sent to Glasgow.
The athletes who will not be at the CWG26 will be participating at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. But competitions in those sports are tougher at the Asiad. Table tennis is a case in point. At the Commonwealth Games, the Indian table tennis contingent is one of the gold medal favourites. In the Asian Games, they would be way down the pecking order, with China ruling the roost. No wonder that the paddlers are crying foul.
“It is a pity that table tennis has been taken off the CWG programme, but the organisers have informed us they had a very short notice as it moved from Melbourne to Glasgow,” veteran table tennis player Sharath Kamal, who has won a bagful of medals at the Commonwealth Games, was quoted as saying by PTI.
At a press conference on Tuesday, ahead of India’s two-match bilateral series against Germany, the Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh was asked about his sport’s omission from the CWG26. Harmanpreet expressed his disappointment. “It’s a shocking news and very disappointing. But it’s not in our hands,” he said.
India are the Olympic bronze medallists in hockey. “Most of the medal-winning sports for India have been dropped. The IOA should take up the matter,” Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh told PTI. The Hockey India is taking up the matter with the game’s global governing body FIH.
Pullela Gopichand, current chief coach of Indian badminton team and a former All England champion, also expressed disappointment over the development. “I am deeply appalled and disappointed by the decision to exclude badminton from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow—a judgment that appears aimed at stunting the progress of nations like India. This decision represents a significant lapse not just for Indian badminton, but for the sport worldwide, lacking clear reasoning and jeopardizing its growth,” he was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Badminton Association of India (BAI).
Here are the hard numbers, how India’s medal tally could be hit at the CWG26. In Birmingham, India took part in 16 sports and won 61 medals. Thirty of those medals were from the sports that won’t be part of the Glasgow roster. A pruned version of the Commonwealth Games will also see a less stellar starcast, with top shuttlers, wrestlers and hockey players missing out. Also, the Commonwealth Games is a pathway for the athletes to aim higher. That is now taken away.
