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To the surprise of many, cricket, hockey, wrestling, squash, badminton, table tennis and para table-tennis were some of the sports that were scrapped from the 2026 Commonwealth Games. read more
 "What India’s medal count in CWG 2022 would have been like without sports removed from Glasgow 2026")
The India men's hockey team with the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Reuters
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) recently dropped several prominent sports from the programme for the 2026 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. To the surprise of many, cricket, hockey, wrestling, squash, badminton, table tennis and para table-tennis were some of the sports that were scrapped from the upcoming edition in the Scottish city. The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham had 19 sports but that number significantly reduces to 10 come the 2026 edition in Glasgow.
According to the CGF, the decision to cut down the number of sports was done so to make the Games more “budget-friendly”.
“The Games will include 10 sports – striking a balance between ensuring the event has a multi-sport feel and the need to manage financial and operational risk,” a statement from the CGF said.
One can only wonder how many medals would India have won had these sporting events not been part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in England. Let’s take a look:
How many medals did India win in 2022 Commonwealth Games?
India enjoyed an excellent campaign at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where they finished in fourth place. India won 22 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 23 bronze medals, taking their overall medals tally to 61. India had sent a total of 210 athletes (106 men and 104 women) to compete at the 2022 CWG, across 16 sporting events.
What if current sports were removed from 2022 CWG?
Had the above-mentioned sporting events been removed from the 2022 Commonwealth Games as well, India would have ended up winning only 31 medals in Birmingham.
A total of 30 of India’s medals at the 2022 CWG came from sports that have been excluded from the 2026 programme. A majority of those medals come from wrestling (12 medals, Gold: 6, Silver: 1, Bronze: 5). Seven medals come from table tennis (Gold: 4, Silver: 1, Bronze: 2) and six medals from badminton (Gold: 3, Silver: 1, Bronze: 2). India had also won two medals in hockey (a silver and a bronze medal), two bronze medals in squash and one silver medal in cricket.
Athletics, boxing, weightlifting and boxing are among the sports that have been included for the 2026 Glasgow Games. India had accounted for 28 medals across these events in 2022, with 10 medals being won in weightlifting. India’s athletes won eight medals in athletics, whereas boxers won a total of seven medals and there were three medals in judo.
This shows that while there is still hope of the Indian contingent winning medals at the 2026 CWG in Glasgow, the absence of sports like wrestling, badminton and cricket, where there are several India medal hopefuls, is definitely a significant blow.
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English (US) ·