Commonwealth Games 2026: Cricket, hockey, wrestling among sports axed for Glasgow
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held across four venues in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23 to August 2. Badminton, table tennis and squash are also out.
Sports like cricket, hockey, badminton, wrestling and rugby sevens, among others, have been axed from the official programme for the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Set to be the 23rd edition of the CWG, the upcoming edition will be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 2, 2026, marking the quadrennial multi-sport meet’s return to the Scottish city after 12 years.
The itinerary for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, however, will be considerably leaner than it was at Birmingham 2022.
Glasgow 2026 will feature a 10-sport programme concentrated across four venues within an eight-mile corridor, organisers Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced on Tuesday.
The 10-sport itinerary for Glasgow 2026 will include athletics (track and field), swimming, 3x3 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.
The Games will take place across four venues: Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Emirates Arena – including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).
The Glasgow 2026 sports list is significantly leaner than Birmingham 2022, which featured a roster of 20. The exclusions include hockey, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis, diving, rugby sevens, beach volleyball, mountain biking, squash and rhythmic gymnastics.
Shooting, which was also dropped from the Birmingham 2022 CWG programme, is still out.
The omissions will be a big blow to India’s medal credentials at the Glasgow 2026 Games.
Shooting and wrestling have been the biggest medal garners for India at the Commonwealth Games since its inception.
Field hockey’s exclusion also means the sport will be missing from the quadrennial event for the first time since the sport made its debut in the CWG back in 1998. India, with six medals shared between the men’s and women’s teams, are the second-most successful hockey nation in the CWG only behind Australia.
Cricket, meanwhile, had returned to the Commonwealth Games programme at Birmingham 2022 after a gap of 24 years. The competition was held in T20 format for women’s teams with India clinching a silver medal.
India also hold a stellar record in badminton, table tennis and squash at the CWG.
Commonwealth Games 2026 sports
- Athletics and para athletics
- Swimming and para swimming
- Artistic gymnastics
- Track cycling and para track cycling
- Netball
- Weightlifting and para powerlifting
- Boxing
- Judo
- Bowls and para bowls
- 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball