New Delhi

India’s medal hopes for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have taken a significant hit as several of the country’s strongest sports – cricket, field hockey, badminton, and wrestling, have been dropped from the event. The Games, scheduled for July 23 to August 2, 2026, will feature only 10 sports across four venues, according to an announcement by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

The streamlined list of sports for Glasgow 2026 includes athletics, swimming, 3×3 basketball, track cycling, weightlifting, lawn bowls, artistic gymnastics, netball, boxing, and judo. Para variants of five of these sports will also be included. This is a drastic reduction from the 2022 Birmingham Games, which hosted 20 sports. Notably, popular events like hockey, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis, diving, and rugby sevens have been excluded.

Shooting, another strong event for India, remains absent from the lineup, despite being dropped in the 2022 edition as well. Wrestling and shooting, two dominant sports for India, have brought the country a combined total of 249 medals, including 112 golds, in previous editions of the Games.

The removal of these sports is a significant blow, especially for field hockey, which will be missing from the Games for the first time since its introduction in 1998. India has a rich history in these excluded sports, which will make the 2026 Games a challenging one for the country.