Commonwealth Games: Scaled-Down Glasgow 2026 Set to Wipe Out Nearly Half of India’s Medal Tally; Why Fans Must Have ‘Realistic Expectations’

New Delhi, July 9: The upcoming Commonwealth Games 2026, scheduled to be held between July 23 and August 2 in Glasgow, is going to be a significantly scaled-down event, featuring just 10 sports.

Four years ago in Birmingham 2022, India finished with 61 medals, but the picture could be a completely subdued one this time around. The reduced programme has resulted in the exclusion of several disciplines that have traditionally been India's biggest sources of medals at the quadrennial event.

Badminton, wrestling, table tennis, hockey, squash, cricket and triathlon - all the sports that fetched India a rich medal haul - have all been dropped from the programme. Beach volleyball and rugby sevens, where India did not participate at Birmingham 2022, are also missing.

Wrestling, badminton and table tennis were amongst the disciplines where India dominated as those three sports alone contributed 25 medals for the country. Sadly, none of them are going to be a part of the Commonwealth Games XXIII.

Compared to previous edition, India's medal prospects will be reduced by 30 due to the absence of these sports. In other words, 49.2 per cent of India's medals at the previous Commonwealth Games came from sports that have now been removed from the programme. And the impact on India's gold-medal prospects could be even greater.

India's 13 Gold Medal Sports Dropped for CWG 2026

At the Birmingham Games in 2022, Team India finished fourth in the medal table with 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze from the 205-athlete contingent. Of those 22 gold medals, 13 came from sports that will not feature in Glasgow.

That amounts to more than 59 per cent of India's gold-medal haul. Wrestling contributed six gold medals, table tennis delivered four and badminton added three. If we take away those three sports alone, India's tally loses more than half of the gold medals it won at the previous Games.

The numbers underline the scale of the challenge facing the Indian contingent in Glasgow. Hence, India has named a 124-member contingent for the 2026 edition.

Birmingham 2022 vs Glasgow 2026: What India Loses

Wrestling's Absence Leaves the Biggest Hole

Wrestling's absence from this year's event could hurt India the most. Indian grapplers - who have traditionaly enjoyed a lot of success at the CWG - won a total of 12 medals at Birmingham 2022. More remarkably, all 12 Indian wrestlers who competed at the Games returned with a medal.

Indian wrestlers won six gold, one silver and five bronze medals, making it the most productive sport in Birmingham for the country.

Table Tennis, Badminton Take Away 13 Medals

Table tennis' absence from Glasgow is another huge loss for the country as India had enjoyed a considerable domination. India won seven table tennis medals at Birmingham 2022, including four gold, one silver and two bronze.

At the heart of India's success was legendary paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, finishing the Games with four medals, including three gold. Making table tennis one of India's most productive disciplines at the Games, the paddlers won seven medals in total.

Badminton, much like wrestling, has been one of the biggest medal fetching sport for India, not just at the CWG but Asian Games and Olympics too. In Birmingham, India bagged six medals and it would have been again one of the biggest bets for the country.

PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen won the women's and men's singles titles respectively, while the former world number pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty claimed the men's doubles gold. India also won silver in the mixed team competition and added two bronze medals.

Though, there has been a slide for Indian shuttlers' performance lately, but the overall domination of Indian shuttlers would have given them an extra push to do well and return with good medal haul.

If one combines wrestling, table tennis and badminton accounted, India bagged a total of 25 medals out of 61 from these three sports alone at Birmingham 2022.

They also produced all 13 gold medals India won in sports that have subsequently been dropped.

Hockey, Cricket and Squash Further Add to India's Medal Loss

The damage to India's medal prospects does not end with its three most productive excluded sports. India won two hockey medals at Birmingham 2022 as the men's team clinched a silver, while the women's team returned with a bronze.

In the Women's T20 cricket, which made its Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham, Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side lost to Australia in the final to settle with a silver.

Indian Squash players won two bronze medals, adding to the country's medal tally, showcasing their rapid rise in the world. Their exclusion takes the overall number of Birmingham 2022 medals India cannot defend in Glasgow to 30.

At Birmingham 2022, Indian athletes won 10 medals in athletics, while weightlifting contributed another 10. Boxing delivered seven medals, judo three and lawn bowls two. Para powerlifting also added four medals to India's tally. These sports will now have to carry an even greater share of India's medal expectations in Glasgow.

Focus, hence, will be on the track and field events along with boxing to produce a better show and make up for the lost medals. India is sending a strong track and field contingent, spearheaded by double Olympic-medallist Neeraj Chopra, for Glasgow. Team India will face stiff challenge from athletes from Jamaica, Grenada, Great Britain, Kenya, and Australia, amongst others, hence making it to the podium in these disciplines won't be easy.

India's Chef-de-Mission for the CWG 2026 in Glasgow and former tennis player Rohit Rajpal, has urged the fans to have a 'very realistic expectation' from the athletes due to the curtailed games.

"Actually, you need to have a very realistic expectation, expectations from these games. Because most of the games that India is very strong in and has a good medal tally are not part of the Commonwealth Games this time. (0:33) And we have 10 games only. Normally there are at least 20 games," Rajpal told in a video shared by Sports Authority of India.

The former India Davis Cup captain added further, "So, some games are going to be there where India can definitely score very well and we are hoping that we do that. But it's important that we compare apples to apples this time, and we compare how we did previously in those games and how we are going to do in the coming games, in these particular games. And not look at the overall medal tally because there are a lot of games that unfortunately don't suit us or are not there in the games, included in the games."

Based purely on Birmingham 2022 results, nearly half of India's medal-winning opportunities have disappeared from the programme. Of course, that does not mean India will win exactly 31 medals at Glasgow 2026.

Such a comparison does not account for changes in the number of events, improved performances, emerging athletes or medals India could win in disciplines where it failed to reach the podium four years ago. But it does provide a clear picture of the scale of the challenge. Hence, fans should really have a realistic expectations from the Indian contingent.