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As Glasgow hosts the smallest Commonwealth Games in over three decades, athletes and experts debate whether the event is losing its stature

The 2026 Commonwealth Games (CWG) were flagged off on July 23rd. at Glasgow (Scotland) with all 74 Commonwealth nations participating in it. But due to escalating cost projections and lack of time to organise the event, this year will have only 10 sporting categories. This will be the lowest number of sports offered at the Games since 1994. Question arises whether Games are losing their true wealth.

After the Australian state of Victoria pulled out as host in 2023 because of spiralling costs, throwing the future of the Commonwealth itself into uncertainty, Glasgow stepped in to rescue the Games. This year Sports and disciplines dropped from the previous Games include Badminton, Hockey, Wrestling, Squash, Table Tennis, Cricket, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Rugby, Diving, Triathlon. In 2022 CWG, which was held at Birmingham, India finished fourth in the medals tally with 61 medals (22 gold, 16 silver, 23 bronze). This year we are going with 126 athletes, 84 less than the previous edition. India won 12 medals from wrestlers in 2022.

Badminton, Hockey, Cricket, Table Tennis combined bagged 18 medals for the country. And these categories do not exist in the current edition of Commonwealth games. This is worrying as it reduces our chances with medals. And gives rise to the discussion of relevance of the games in he current world.

India's gold medalist at 2022 CWG Sathiyan Gnanasekaran expressed his views on Table Tennis not being part of this year's edition. ''When we heard the news that Table Tennis will not be part of the CWG at Glasgow, it was certainly disheartening,” admitted Sathiyan.